Importance of Freedom
by RedStripe
Summary: Follow Shard, Darkstar and Cloud on a journey to defeat an evil stealing souls for ransom. "You must go on this journey, Darkstar. It will teach you the skills you'll need to lead my clan in the future." No longer accepting OC's. New Chapters every Sunday. On Twitter and FaceBook as RedStripe FanFiction: twitter com/RedStripe FF
1. Chapter 1: My Worst Nightmare

**This is the first chapter of my second story. Read on, and tell me what you think. If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum, Pearl and Pokemon X cartriges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter One: My Worst Nightmare** - - -**

My nightmare of a story starts on the south side of Mt. Coronet. I am known by my few friends as Darkstar. They say I'm arrogant and full of myself. I guess I am, but I never knew how true they were, until that stupid Pokeball stole my freedom.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" She asks, peering off the little South-West facing snow-covered ledge.

"What? The view? Kinda got used to it. Been up here all my life." I respond, staring out at the view ahead. It was a clear day today, a rare treat it was to be able to see the horizon this high up the mountain. There's a large forest to my left, with a mine burrowing under it. A valley with a long, wide road directly to my right. In the center of my view was a human city. I believe the city's name is Jubilife, but I can't be sure. I don't pay much attention to what the humans do. Beyond that sits Lake Verity, a port town, and finally the sea.

"Yeah, but I still get a rush when I see how far up we really are." She says, awed by the sight I grew up seeing.

"You would be the one to say that, Shard." I reply. I never have been around others much, so I constantly say the wrong thing. Sometimes I wonder how Shard can put up with it, and still say she loves me.

"Why are you always so arrogant? Just enjoy life for once, Darkstar." Shard says with a hurt tone.

I drop my head in guilt. "I'm sorry, it's just the way I am. I'm not the type who lives with others. I'd rather live alone."

Shard brushes her head against mine in comfort. "It's OK, we all feel that way, for the most part. A few Absol prefer to be in groups, they say it makes them stronger."

I show no reaction, but appreciate the thought. "Yeah, but it makes them a bigger target in my opinion."

She looks at me. "It does, but they can support each other if a trainer tries to catch them. Fight one, fight all, right?"

I watch a small group of Absol pass at the bottom of the mountain by the human mine. "Yeah, I suppose."

Shard follows my gaze, and makes a suggestion I knew she'd make. "Should we tag along with them? Trainers have been coming up here a lot lately. It might do us good to join them."

I turn and face her. "You know I wouldn't be able to survive there. I'd just cause problems."

She sighs. "Darkstar, you have to put aside your ego and think of your options, otherwise you won't survive out here. You'll be caught, and we both know how well that would end. You'd be lucky to get away unscarred."

I hear something rustling in the bushes behind us. I look around and see not one, but two trainers walking along the path on the ledge above us. It's not far up, I could easily jump up there in a single bound. The problem is that they're blocking the only route off this ledge. If they saw us, we would never escape. I whisper to Shard to stay quiet and hide.

"Stay quiet, and don't move if they look our way. Hide your horn." I slowly creep forward in front of Shard and duck down in the snow and cover my horn and face, putting my tail in the snow. Relying on my white pelt to camouflage with the snow.

She nods and gracefully burrows under the snow, leaving her eyes peeking out and concealing herself a lot better than I did. She was always better at stealth then me.

Then, a stupid Snowver trips over my horn and plops into the snow with a screech. The trainers are instantly alerted.

"What was that?" A trainer asks with a deep voice.

"Sshhhhh." I tell the frightened Snowver, who nods.

"I don't see it. Sounded like a Snowver though." The other trainer states with a lighter, more cheery voice.

"Hmm. Go Luxray!" I hear the deep voice shout, a Pokeball pop open and a Luxray ask it's master what to do.

"Pathetic. Just pathetic." I whisper to Shard. She lightly nods her head.

"Use your X-Ray ability to find out what's in the snow down there." The deep voice orders. I stiffen in fear and look at Shard, who has a similar expression.

"Should we jump?" She asks. Glancing towards the shear drop off.

"I'm not sure we'd survive." I reply, closing my eyes.

"Three." The Luxray states with a happy tone. The humans don't seem to understand him, but acknowledge the presence of Pokemon.

The higher voice, who I'm thinking is a female human now, reveals our location. "There! I've never seen that one before!"

"S-Shard..." I'm frightened now, I think we're done.

"I know how you feel." She replies, voice quivering.

I'm guessing the other voice to be that of a male. "I think... that's an Absol. Wow! They're rare!"

I give up hope of cover now, and so does Shard. We both stand up and give the trainers a frightened stare. "Thanks a lot, Snowver." I say ruefully, glaring at it. If looks could kill...

"Oh wow! They're beautiful!" The female exclaims. I smile reluctantly and shake the snow out of my fur.

"Dark type. Weak to fighting, go Lucario!" The male says, and throws a Pokeball, out of which comes the dreaded Fighting-type.

"D-Darkstar... we need to run..." She stammers.

"Dark, eh? Go Mightyena!" The female throws her own Pokeball containing a Mightyena.

"Yeah... about that... we're stuck." I look behind us at the cliff below.

"Lucario, Aura Sphere!" The male commands. I barely dodge the Aura Sphere, though Shard wasn't so lucky and takes the hit dead-on, knocked sideways.

"Shard!" I jump in between her and the humans once more.

"Mightyena, Hyperbeam!"

I'm taken by surprize and find myself on the ground before I know it. "Argh!"

"Darkstar, no!" Shard whispers, and I barely register what she said. I watch her get up and run over to me, clearly worried.

"Lucario, use Bone Rush!" The male human commands. The Lucario follows orders and makes what I presume to be a Bone Rush, ready to charge.

"S-Shard... I can't... go on. Run, Shard. R... run." I tell her as I let my head fall onto the ground.

"Go for the one who's standing!" The trainer orders.

"No, Darkstar. I'm staying with you. We will go down together." She turns around and bravely faces the now charging Lucario. I do my best to get up, barely doing so, and push her aside, taking the blow from a long blue bone-shaped energy myself.

"Shaaarrrd!" I scream as I'm slammed into the ground.

"Nooooo!" Shard yells, and runs for the Lucario, who knocks her into the air and plants it's palm on her chest.

"Force Palm, Lucario!"

Shard is slammed by the Lucario. She flies backwards into the snow, unconcious.

"Please, spare me." I plead the Lucario, but to no avail. He just stands there, ears perked backwards for an order.

"Go Pokeball!" The female yells in excitment. I will myself to dodge it, but can't bring up enough energy to move.

"Nooooooooooooo!" I scream in terror as I feel myself shrinking. My vision comes back after being blinded, and I find myself in the one thing I feared the most. The Pokeball.

"I'm sorry, Shard. I've failed you, my love." Is the last thing I say before I fall unconcious, hearing a deafening _click _surround me. "I'm sorry..."

* * *

**Well, that's that chapter finished. Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better. This comes to my head as I write it, so posting times are unknown. **

**Maybe another one today, maybe in a week. I don't know. The amount of interest will determin my motivation for the story, as this was written on a whim.**

**- - Update Logue - -**

**10/8/2013: More descriptive content added, as well as minor grammar tweaks. Word count from 1,178 to 1,482**

**26/8/2013: Gammar fixed in multiple places. Word count from 1,482 to 1,518**


	2. Chapter 2: Shard's Remorse

**This is the second chapter of my second story. Read on, and tell me what you think. If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum, Pearl and Pokemon X cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Two: Shard's Remorse** - - -**

I wake to find myself buried in a large bank of snow, concealing me from being seen by passers-by. The wind is blowing softly, and snow is drifting across the outlook.

"Darkstar!" I breath as I remember what had happened just before I fell unconscious, and burst out of the bank in fear.

"Darkstar? You there?" I call, hoping for a reply, though I get none.

I look to where he was when I was knocked out, and he's not there. I see two going sets of tracks going straight to and from where he lie who knows how long before. I trace them, and I see the indent of something round in his body print, snow swirling around the perfectly spherical hole.

"No... Darkstar..." My feet collapse underneath me when I realize Darkstar is now living his worst nightmare, being captured by humans to fight pointless battles. He never liked fighting, and avoided it whenever he could. That's what brought us together.

I was walking up path towards the summit one day when I was attacked by some Pokemon who'd just gotten away from their trainers. I was trying to talk myself out of fighting, but that was a hard thing to do when you're talking to Pokemon who knew nothing but fighting. Then Darkstar, who was headed the same way, heard the dispute and came to my rescue, blasting snow in their eyes with Razor Wind and had me follow him as we ran along a side-path.

Once we got away from them, we stopped and I thanked him. It was upon this very ledge, actually, that I insisted my dept to him be repayed.

_"Thank you for saving me. I owe you one." Staring the stranger in the eyes, I see nothing but an empty stare. He must not have any kind of life to follow._

_"No, it's what we do to survive. That was nothing." He says flatly._

_"But, I can't just walk away. It wouldn't be right." I counter. I'd never forgive myself if I didn't repay a dept._

_"I'm not one for debts. I do what I must, and leave it at that." My savior says, then turns tail and walks off. _

_"Please, ther-" I try to ask, but he predicts my question._

_"Isn't anything you could do but leave me alone. I'm a loner." He cuts me off, looking back at me._

_"I-..." I didn't know what to say. I just followed him as he walked around for days. Eventually he softened up and let me walk alongside him, rather than trying to evade me like he was._

_Suddenly he opens up to me. "I've never liked fighting. I'd rather just be on my own, surviving. This is the way I want to live. Simple life, nothing complicated. Those trainers would be the death of me. I wouldn't be able to live like that. Too complicated, too busy, too much pointless fighting."_

_I get this feeling like we were ment for each other. "I'm the same way. I want to lead my own life, not be bossed about by a human with a dream."_

_He smiles in approval, then his expression goes dark. "All those humans want us Absol for is because they like how we look. Sure, it's somewhat of a compliment, but it's sad that that's the only reason they capture us. Then there's that stupid belief they have. We're trying to help them, but they just kill us because they think we're causing disasters, not warning them of the danger they face."_

_"I... we have a lot in common." It's too obvious for me now. We were ment for each other._

_"What's your name?" My hero asks, apparently accepting his fate with me._

_"Shard, named by my mother for the last shard of hope we have for our species."_

_"Hmm. The last shard of hope. I'm Darkstar, named by my father for the darkness of the sun when the moon covers it. He says it'll happen one day, and he says it'll be my day of fate. Not entirely sure what it means, but I don't question him. He was a wise leader." _

_"Leader? Were you in a clan?"_

_"Yes, but I couldn't stay there without causing problems. Someone would always do something to irritate me, and my father finally said to go out on my own. He said 'You are not one for groups, son. You are ment to be alone for happiness to come to you. Leave the clan, and lead your own life, Darkstar.' Those were the last words I heard from my father. I've not seen him since."_

_"That's horrible! You should go see him!"_

_"Impossible. He's always moving the clan. We'd move camp every second full moon, to avoid raids by trainers. It was his solution to being free."_

"Hey! Hey, you okay?"

_"You know, I never repayed that dept to you. We should find your fathers clan, together." I tell him. It would be great fun, and would give us purpose for a while._

"Are you OK? You're just sitting there! You should find some shelter, there's a blizzard going on here!"

_"No, that was common courtesy. You don't need too-"_

I'm jolted out of my dream when I finally realize someone is calling me.

"Follow me! I'll take you to safety!" A voice shouts.

I come to my senses, and notice an icy wind tearing at my fur. I find myself curled up in a ball, beside where Darkstar's now filled-in body print.

"What...?" My mind is still filled with remorse for letting Darkstar down weighs heavily in my mind. Now I owe him double.

"Come on!" It yell again.

Finally, my ears register what the voice was saying. "Ugh... coming." I stiffly get up and walk to where I heard the voice come froms.

"There, now come, we'll get you some shelter at home." The voice sounds right in my ear.

"'We'? Don't you mean 'you'?" I probe. I don't see anyone else around. The only one I see is the Absol beside me. He looks experienced, like he knows what you're gonna say before you say it.

"No, I mean 'we'. I lead a clan, you see. I'm looking for my son. Caught a light whiff of his scent down the path, and came up here to see you laying in the snow, unsheltered."

He starts walking away, and I follow beside him. We walk North, going towards what Darkstar expected to be a campsite on a rounded clearing upon a curved ledge, half covered by overhanging rock. Now that I see it from this perspective, it looks like an Absol's face from the side, looking straight West. The clearing imitating the top of its muzzle, the overhang representing the bangs below the oval crown on our foreheads, and curved underside being the jaw.

"Your son? What was his name?" It can't be... this just can't be who I think it is...

"Darkstar." He says, a hint of sorrow in his voice.

I stop, dead in my tracks. I just found Darkstar's father, and I let him get captured by humans just prior? Now I'm angry at myself for being so careless. We were _that close_ to finding his father, and juust after he'd finally admitted that he missed him, too.

"Hey, you okay?" The wise Absol asks again, peering at me with a knowing look.

"Your son... he was with me, and got captured by tr-" I was right, he did know. He cut me off just as I started saying what may as well be Darkstar's personal Giratina.

"Don't say it, you'll alert the clan. Sound travels far here." He hushes, indicating an opening in a wall of brambles.

I nod my head. "He was with me, looking over the cliff at the city. Then they came. We couldn't run, we were trapped. I was knocked unconscious by a Lucario, and he was... you know... by a-" I nod my head to replace the word, he understands."...and I found myself alone. I'm so sorry for failing you, it's my fault I wanted to see the city."

"Your fault? It's not your fault, it's mine, for not catching up to him in time. Let's get you a bed for the night." I open my mouth to argue, but find myself yawning instead. I give in, defeated. Then I realize we made it to the ledge, I'm now standing on the nose of the giant Absol cliff.

Darkstar's father brings me to the tip of the ledge, and I see a small empty cave underneath us. He climbs down a precariously narrow foothold, and leads me into the cave.

"This is my den. I'll get you some bedding after I tell my clan about the latest events." The Clan Leader climbs out and top of the slightly raised rock, which I now realize to be the nose, and calls his clan around him. After a few moments of footsteps, whispers and shuffling, he starts.

"I have failed at getting Darkstar back. He has been captured by a human, and chances are, we'll never see him again. I've found a friend of his who knows who took him. We must follow her, she is our last hope of getting our clanmate back. We'll be heading out in two days. Good night."

With that, the clan breaks up and eventually the shuffling subsides. He reappears at the entrance to his den with a large bundle of grass in teeth, and lays them in front of me.

"Here is some bedding. I'll help you make a nest while we get to know a little about each other." He says as he began to pull the bundle apart, making the grass splay out across the ground. "Pile it up. So, how did you two meet?"

I began telling him of my encounter with the escaped Pokemon.

I was looking for a spot to sleep overnight...

_I have to find somewhere sheltered to rest. If I don't, I'll be dead by morning. Hopefully I can find shelter at the summit with my mother's old friend. _

_The hail storm blasts around her, the fog is thick and the air is brittle. Without shelter, any Pokemon who wasn't an Ice-type would freeze if they were to get caught in the weather._

_As I walk up the path, I hear the crunching of snow up on the path above me. Paying no attention, I continue walking._

_"Hey! You down there! Help us out here!" A gruff voice yells from above me. I'm guessing it's someone on the shelf above._

_I look up at the voice, and find three Pokemon staring down at me. A bored Mightyena, Kriketune with a lost look and a very burly brown Granbull. _

_"I can't help you, sorry!" I reply. I get a dangerous look from the Granbull, who I assume to be the owner of the booming voice._

_"Oh, you'll be helping us one way or another. Tell us where we are or else." He replies with a warning tone, confirming my thoughts. I don't like the look on his face, either._

_"Where you are? Uhh... Mount Coronet is all I can tell you. I've done so many twists an turns I don't know where I'm going now. Sorry." I say sincerely, and resume my walk along the path, being beaten by the frozen ice the whole time._

_"So be it. If you can't help us find our way, you'll just have to fight for your life." The Granbull hollers, and slides down the snow-covered rock, landing in front of me. The other two follow suit, and land behind me, blocking any chance of escape._

_"W-what do you want with m-me?" I ask as my knees buckle, mind racing to think of the reasons these goons would want to take me down._

_As if in response, the Mightyena's stomach growled. The Brown Mutt lifted an eyebrow and glared at the Mightyena._

_"There's your responce, I guess." The Mightyena smiled happily. I gulped, hoping he didn't mean it. I think I know how my prey feels now._

_"You idiot, all you can think about is your damn stomach and eating food. Why Arceus didn't make you a Snorlax, I'll never know." The Granbull ranted at the Mightyena, then turned to me with a curious look. He raises a paw and brings it down straight for my head when we're suddenly pelted by swirling hail and wind moving so fast it pushes through my thick fur and cuts my skin. If I wasn't already on the ground cowering in fear, I definately would be now. The fierce wind stops and an Absol jumps over my head and lands in front of me._

_"Get up, let's go!" He nods forward, urging me as the others get back on their feet._

_"You little, I'll pound you into the ground for that!" The Brown Bulldog cries as he rushes forward to hit the Absol beside me. But his blow is parried by the White Pokemon's blade and his weight carries him onward into the other two, slamming them into the ground once more._

_"Come on, we won't need to fight if you get up and run!" My defender advises as he nudges me to my feet and we start running up the path._

"After that, I continued to follow him, feeling a need to repay a dept I owed. We later found out that we have a lot of similar beliefs." I finish my story of how we first met. By now the clan leader is curled up in his bed, his horn almost scraping the roof of the narrow cave.

"I see. Well, it's almost moonhigh, so we must get to sleep if we expect to wake up at a reasonable time in the morning." He says. I oblige, and close my eyes, sinking into the grass nest.

"Tell me, what's your name?" I ask Darkstar's father.

"My name is Soul, 'for an Aura pure as snow', my mother once said. Yours?" He replies.

"Shard, for the last hope or our species. My mother always told me that Absol are dying out because of humans hunting us for an idiotic belief." I explain.

"Indeed we are. Not many of us are left in the wild, and I'm certain it won't be long before we disappear into the dust, lost in time." Those are his final words before I hear him sigh and fall asleep. I follow suit soon after, and hope that we may find Darkstar before long.

* * *

**Well, that's that chapter finished. Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more veiws per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - Update Logue - -**

**12/08/2013: More descriptive content added, along with some character development. Large word count spike from 1'343 to 2'667**

**27/10/2013: Grammar fixes, small amount of descriptive content added. Word count from 2'667 to 2'708**


	3. Chapter 3: Darkstar's Song

**This is the third chapter of my second story. Read on, and tell me what you think. If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Three: Darkstar's Song-** - -**

I wake in on a soft bed. Then I remember what just happened, and where I am.

"No. No, this can't be happening to me... Please Arceus, tell me this isn't happening."

I know it's pointless to attempt escape. I've heard the horror stories other Pokemon have told me, and I don't expect to escape soon.

"No... No no no..." It's all I can think. I have the deepest dread of what could happen to me. I'm scared. I can't think of anything that could possibly be worse. Even death would be better then this...

"Well, lets see your new Pokemon!"

"OK, hold on. Come on out, Absol!"

I feel myself flying through the sky, then I'm suddenly blinded.

"Wow! You weren't kidding, it is so beautiful!

My vision clears and I find myself sitting in the middle of a group of murmuring humans in the city I was looking at before. That's not what I'm scared of, though. I'm scared for my life. No, wait, that would be better. I'd rather die then be stuck following the orders of a human.

"Yeah, Jared says they're really rare to find. We saw two, but the one was too weak to stand up to Jared's Lucario. I hope it's OK."

Now I'm just mad. They're putting my Shard down and she's a lot tougher than they're pointing her out to be.

"Well, you've got some training and taming to do, because it doesn't look too happy. Or obedient."

I freeze. Obedient? No... Never! I'll never obey a human's commands.

"You said the magic word. Haha."

I try to make a break for it, but find myself surrounded by a whole group of humans. "No... No... This cannot be..." I'm about to jump over them, and decide against it.

"Shaaaaarrrrrrrrrd!" That's all I can say before I collapse to the ground, crying.

The whole crowd goes silent. Then a human says something that I can actually relate to.

"Poor guy, must be frightened half to death." I look at the human who said this, and stare at them in remorse. To my surprise, the human approach's me and embraces me. The surprising part is, I was glad for this. Maybe the humans aren't so bad.

"Wow, Crystal, never thought you'd be someone who could relate with a Pokemon."

The human beside me starts defending me, and pretty much speaks exactly what I feel.

"Well, look at it this way, Kate. He was in the wild, minding his own business. Then you and Jared come along. You attack and then catch him. Then you expect him to be friendly about it! What if he didn't want to be caught? What if he doesn't want to be in a team?"

'Kate' looks about to burst into tears herself now. I get a flicker of hope that I may actually escape.

"Crystal, I... I'm sorry, I was ignorant. What should I do? Let him live his own life or keep him?" She's totally confused, I can see it in her eyes.

'Crystal' makes a suggestion and it may actually save me.

"Well, he is his own being. Let him decide." Crystal gets off me and steps back. I get up, and start to move when we're inturrupted.

"If you don't take him, I will."

I spin around and see another human, this one riding a Salamance, pointing at me.

"What do you want?" I say, with this prickly feeling that I should run for my life.

"I'm sorry, what? Here, have this." The female on the Salamance throws something at the ground in front of me. It opens up, something sticks out and it makes a high-pitched noise. "Speak." She says.

"Uuuuh... kay?"

The humans around me gasp and look at the female in amazement.

"What did you say, Disaster Pokemon?" She says again.

"What do you want?" I repeat.

"Oh. You, of course. You see, your kind is very rare. I've been told to pick you up and take you to a client of mine."

I'm confused. This makes no sense. That feeling is getting stronger. "That would mean...?"

"I want you to come with me."

"Unless you're taking me back to Mt. Coronet, I'm out of here."

"Oh, that won't be happening. You're coming with me, whether you like it or not."

"Uh-huh. Well..." Then I get an idea. "Hey... I've always wanted to try this... could I do it?" I'm gonna do it anyway, but who cares.

"Try what? You're not thinking of attacking my Salamance, are you. That would be a bad mistake."

"No no, not planning on that... something my mother did before she died..."

"What would that be?"

I cover my ears and start singing this random song my mother had sung when she'd saved us from a bunch of Medicham.

_"Go, Darkstar! Run, everyone go! Get out of earshot, fast!" My mother pushes me aside as a Medicham tries to kick me. she dodges the blow cleanly, and knocks it over as well._

_"But mother!" I cry. I wanna stay with mother, I love her._

_"No! Save yourself!" She looks me sternly in the eye now. Then looks over my head._

_"Come with us son. We must go. Now." My father comes up behind me and picks me up by the scruff._

_"Go with your father. He'll keep you safe. Farewell, Darkstar." My mother says before facing the Medicham._

_"Nooooo!" I scream before she starts singing, of all the things she could do in a battle._

_"Life, death. Sacrifice, a loss for a victory. I call upon thee to bear down on us, and set all here to sleep. I call upon the one of the other dimension, to do my deed, in return for my soul. I sell you my life for this victory, Giratina. Take me, and do with my enemies whatever you wish."_

_I start to feel sleepy as my father runs along, seemingly uneffected. The song sent chills through my bones, and I'll never forget it._

Repeating my mothers words,ready to be taken by the one we all fear.

"Life, death. Sacrifice, a loss for a victory. I call upon thee to bear down on us, and set all who hear to sleep. I call upon the one of the other dimension, to do my deed, in return for my soul. I sell you my life for this victory, Giratina. Take me, and do with this evil-doer whatever you wish."

I uncover my ears, hoping it may save me from the hell that rained down on the Pokemon in that clearing with my mother.

_I see a black mist surround the clearing where my mother is fighting off the Medicham. Soon, they all fall to the ground, and the gray serpent appears. It slams into the ground, making the mist pitch black and impenetrable. Then it started to clear. Once I got a chance, I saw blue energy come out of the bodies, then they went into the sky with the serpent leading them. The bodies disappeared, and the clearing was left as if nothing had happened. _

"That, is something my mother did when we were being attacked by Medicham. I..." I cut off when I see black dust rise from the ground.

"What is this?" The Salamance-riding female asks.

"This... is what gave me nightmares for the 14 years of my life after my mother's death."

"Di... did you speak of..." The one I know as Kate stammers.

"Wha... that was the scariest thing I've ever heard!" The male who had the Lucario says.

"Wait, he wasn't there before. Woah..." someone said.

Then I noticed a growing crowd of humans and Pokemon, me at the center with black dust rising around me.

"Yes. I called him, to take her down." I nod at the human on the Salamance.

More dust rises, and starts to come together, forming a thick barrier around me and the Salamance.

"This can't be... this is Perish Song, isn't it?" The human queries. She's shaking, and I'm happy for it.

"If that is what it is called, Hunter J. I can see very much from the top of Mt. Coronet. I saw you, stealing Pokemon from the forests, and making others lives miserable. I am sacrificing myself to save others. A loss for a victory!" I scream, and the dust goes solid, and I can see nothing.

* * *

**Well, that's that chapter finished. Kinda enjoyed writing something dark like this. Works with Darkstar's character, no? **

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**


	4. Chapter 4: Mission for Darkstar

**This is the fourth chapter of my second story. Read on, and tell me what you think. If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Four: Mission for Darkstar-** - -**

My sleep is disturbed by my deputy calling me.

"Soul, we've got something here!"

I sit up and straighten out my fur, being careful not to disturb the lady beside me.

"Come in, Blackstep." I respond. I've been looking for Darkstar with the lady, who's name is Shard, for a couple days now.

"Soul, you must see this. You won't like it, come quick." My deputy seems to be in a very rushed mood, for what I do not know. But there must be some pretty good excuses for him, of all the members of my clan, to be worried. He takes me to the ledge and points me towards the city. I see a large group of human gthered in a circle. A white form and a Salamance are in the center.

"I think I may have found your son, Soul." My deputy reports. "However, there has been some strange activity. The human riding the Salamance. She threw something onto the ground, and now the Absol and Human appear to be comunicating."

"So? The human has a translator. Why is this so important." Then there's a chill in the air. Not the kind of chill when you're cold, but the kind that creeps down your spine.

"Soul, you OK?" My deputy takes note of my discomfort.

"I can feel a chill creeping down my spine. This won't end well if I don't intervene."

"What won't end well?" A voice asks behind me. I turn my head, and Shard walks forwards to the edge.

"This. I've got a bad feeling about it. Like something is gonna reoccur. It makes no sense though." I duck my head, trying to figure out what's going on.

"I see... wait, what the? That one spot is getting darker..." I didn't let her finish her sentence. I knew what was happening now, and I didn't like it one bit. If that was Darkstar, he was done.

"Blackstep, watch the clan, let no-one follow me. Shard, come now." I charge down the mountain side. Across paths and jumping over large dips in the ground. I hear Shard barely keeping up, but keep going. I sense Darkstar's smell, and confirm what I already knew.

I catch a glimpse of the action, and the area around Darkstar and the Salamance go pitch black. A spark of purple high above the clouds is the last I see before I hit the trees.

"No, I will not let you do this, Darkstar. Not in my lifetime."

"What do you mean. How bad is it? One to ten? Ten being really bad." Shard has kept up at least.

"Twentie. If I allow this to happen, Darkstar will die, and so will a lot of others. He never stops at just the few who he's told to take."

"What? Who? What do you mean?" Shard looks at me with scared eyes.

"I..." I decide it's for the better to tell her.

"What?"

"Right now, Darkstar is sacrificing himself to Giratina, in order to take down the Salamance and the human riding it. Thing is, if he does succeed with this, everyone in that clearing will die."

"WHAT? DARKSTAR, NO!" Shard screams. Her eyes are giant moons now, and I don't blame her.

"Run faster!" I yell as we clear the trees. The purple spark has become a portal for Giratina now, and he'll be coming through it any second now.

Giratina comes out of the portal, heading straight down for the clearing. I enter the city and feel the pavement under my paws.

"Darkstar, no! Stop!" I yell in hope he'd hear me, but I know he wouldn't. Not after Giratina appeared. The screams of terror are blocking anything from getting through.

"No..." Shard whispers as we race towards the gathering. Though her words are almost lost.

Finally, I'm in the clearing. I jump as high and hard as I can, over the humans. I aim for a random spot and hope Darkstar is there, and thankfully he is.

"Not today!" I shout at him as we land on the ground. Just then, Giratina disappears into the bowl of darkness. I clears, and three blue lights float above the clearing, Giratina just above.

"Wait, three?" Frantically I look for Shard, and she is there, in the clearing. Laying down.

"No! Not her, Take me instead!" My pleas to Giratina appear to be lost to the air, and Giratina turns away, facing the sky.

"No!" I jumped at Giratina, and managed to hook the tip of his tail. His tail whips up and I'm thrown higher into the sky. He looks me with a look that could kill. Oh, wait...

"Take me, dark one. Not my sons lover."

Giratina comes right up to me, and I find my face looking into his eyes. I'm floating in the air, and Giratina has me in his hold.

"Take my soul, Giratina. Leave the-" My words are cut off by a scream of pure terror from Giratina. I'm alarmed, and then Giratina disappears in a red light.

"What the?!" I make no sense of what just happened, then see a pink sphere falling through the sky. I watch it fall down, then realize I'm falling as well.

I fall, and land on the ground with a sound of something shattering. All I feel is pain. Immobilizing pain.

"Father! Are you OK? Please speak to me!" My son frets.

Coughing, I manage to speak.

"Can't... move..."

"Oh no..." Darkstar replies.

Then I feel energy coming from underneath me.

"*cough* What...?"

Then I'm rising through the air. my head rops. I can't go on much longer. Then I realize the surface under me is gold.

"Giratina... *cough* ...save... my sons...ugh"

A blue light passes by me, and I assume it to be Shards. I'm set onto the ground, and Giratina leaves hastily, none of the lights are in the air.

"Father, are you OK?"

"Son, I can't walk. I'm done."

"But that crunch, that wasn't you."

"Then was... *cough* ...was it?"

Darkstar drops a pink shard in front of me, and understand what had happened.

"I... saved Giratina?"

"Yes father. He let us all go. I'm so sorry for all this. I should never ha-" My sons voice is suddenly cut off, and he tumbles in front of me. Shard had tackled him to the ground.

"I agree with Shard, *cough* son. Shut up. There was no harm brought to anyone."

"What do mean, 'no harm'? You can't walk!"

I move my legs and try to put them underneath me, but can't muster the strength to do it.

"I just need to*cough* rest." I see the medics of my clan come running, and relax.

"Go, you two. I'll be fine."

* * *

**Wow! Two chapters in a day?! Haha, expect more. I have all day to do this. **

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**


	5. Chapter 5: In the Darkness

**This is the third chapter of my second story. Read on, and tell me what you think. If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

**Also, you might wanna listen to the "Star Wolf Assault Theme" as you read this chapter. Fits well, in my opinion.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Five: In the Darkness **-**** - -**

"Go, you two. I'll be fine." Soul says.

"But the humans... we have to take you back." Darkstar frets. Then the clan medics appear beside Darkstar's father.

"We've got him, you make a path for us." One of the medics orders. He ten crouches beside Soul, and the other medic lifts Soul onto his back. "I'll be fIne."

"Understood, Cloud. Come on Darkstar, lets figure out a way out of this gathering." I'm stuck as to how I should go about doing this, but Darkstar seems to know.

He walks up to this triangular metal thing on the ground with a stick coming out of it.

"Hey, this thing still work?" He asks, speaking into the device.

I walk up to him, worried about the device's purpose. "Dark, what is that thing? You sure it-" I'm cut off by a human speaking.

"Yeah, it still works." A human with Pokeball in her hand replies.

"Wait, Darkstar, isn't that your..." I gulp, hoping I'm not right.

Darkstar sighs. "Yes, Shard." Darkstar turns to the human. "Human, err, Kate? Could I request to b-be set free?"

'Kate' starts to get tears in her eyes, and . "If that's what you wish. I see you have a family. Who would I be to tear you away from that? I'm sorry this happened in the first place. I should't have let Jared-"

Another human speaks up, and appears to be trying to comfort Kate. "Kate, it's fine. We never knew he had a family. Lets go." He steers the girl away, and they cut through the group, making a path.

"Thank you! Keep the path open please! Shard, Cloud, we have a path, let's go." Darkstar turns towards the path, and can only take a single step before he's blocked off by the human with the Salamance.

"Not so fast, you. I told you what I want, and neither of us are leaving until I get it!" The human points her left arm at Darkstar, revealing a golden device.

"That's what you think!" Darkstar jumps and knock the human over, then smashes the device under his paw. A golden liquid spills out, and he quickly jumps away from it. "Do NOT touch that stuff at ALL COSTS." He warns us. "It'll trap you, and you'll be stuck with her. It's worse than a Pokeball."

I'm scared now, and now I'm glaring at it like it'll be the death of me.

"You idiot! Look what you've done!" The human screams and tries to grab Darkstars ankle and fails. Then, she drop her hand in the puddle of the liquid, and she turns the same color as the device. "Nooo!"

The five of us high-tail it out of the group with Cloud carrying Soul. Almost immediately we encounter a young child.

"Wow mom! What's that?" The child yells, running in front of us.

"Woah!" I yelp as I try to avoid the child, but end up jumping over him. I land awkwardly and trip, which sends me sprawling across the stone ground. "Argh!"

"Shard, are you OK?" Darkstar calls back and starts to slow down.

"Darkstar, keep going! She'll get up!" Soul says.

"I'm fine, keep going!" Is my reply as I try to get up, and fall back down.

"Mommy mommy, it's hurt!" The child cries as he runs over to me.

I attempt to stand once more, and my legs give out again. "Ugh, Storm! I can't get up!"

The other medic, Storm, runs back and help me onto my feet. I try to take a step, but she catches me and lifts me onto her back. She nods her head at the child, then proceeds to run after Cloud.

Once we've caught up, Darkstar asks to carry me for the young apprentice healer. Storm accepts the offer, and transfers me to Darkstar's back instead.

Once we break away from the city, we slow down and catch our breath. I find the silence off, and decide to try to start a conversation.

"So... what was that?" I ask Darkstar.

"What was what?" He replies, confused.

"That big ruckus you made, with the serpent." I Explain. "What was that all about?"

"That, was-" Darkstar attempts to reply, but his father cuts him off.

"Per- Oh, sorry son." Soul apologizes. "Continue."

"It's OK, father. That, was Perish Song. We only use it when we're in unbeatable odds, to save the res of the clan. I think I used it a little recklessly." Darkstar explains, hanging his head.

"No, son. Your use for it was more valiant than anyone in the clan could do. You were using it to take out a criminal who steals Pokemon from their families for a profit. That is a formidable use. But, I can only hope that this event doesn't make the name of Absol even worse. But of course, we always take that chance when we use it." Soul corrected.

"Thank you father. Do... do yo think she would have been...?" Darkstar choked out, his voice breaking.

"Of course she would have. Your mother would be very proud of you. She was a great mother, and taught you well. I'm sorry she couldn't stay with use, but that's destiny. Arceus doesn't do things for no reason." Soul is blabbering at this point, but I'd rather hear him speak instead of utter silence.

"I know father, it's just... I don't feel like that was an appropriate thing to do..."

"You acted on your instincts, and that's what matters. I'm proud of you Darkstar. It just wasn't your time."

Before anyone can reply, we hear a sound all Absol dread hearing: Gunfire.

"RUN!" I yell, hoping it wasn't us the human was shooting at. Darkstar and Cloud take the front, while Storm stays in the rear to watch for anyone chasing us. The gunfire goes off once more, and screaming is heard in the bushes.

"Help! Someone, Please!" A voice calls. It strikes my memory, but I can't figure out who it was...

"Keep going! We have no time! Leave them, or we'll die ourselves." Soul orders.

I rack my brain for who that could be, but their name evades me...

"Soul, I think I remember who that is, but I can't place a name..."

"Ahhh. Help, please! Someone!" The voice calls again, followed by gunfire and barking.

"Heeelllp! Wait, ple-" One last shot is heard, and then silence.

"Who was that...?" I ask myself, pondering names.

"I don't know, but they're with Arceus now." Cloud speaks up with a sorrowful tone. "Was that someone you knew?"

"I don't know, the voice was familiar, but I can't place it." I sigh defeated.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out later. I could take you to someone who could help you search your memories, if you like." Cloud offers.

"Hmm..." Soul rumbles, as if he knows something.

"What is it, Soul?" Storm, who has now caught up, queries.

"Nothing, nothing. Just thinking to myself." Soul defends.

"Uh-huh. Sure, knowing you, you're not letting on to something." Cloud teases.

"Indeed, father. What is it?" Darkstar shoots Soul a questioning look.

"Something I must check into later. But for now, let's get back to camp." Soul avoids the question once more and nods to the path, which has turned to snow and I find that we're half-way to camp.

The rest of the trip is spent in eerie silence, and when we finally arrive at camp, we pause. Soul and I are set on our feet. I mange to stand up, while Soul needs help supporting himself.

"Lets go." Soul instructs, and he heads in first. I hear cheers as Soul, Cloud and Storm enter. I go in and turn around, causing everyone to hush. murmurs are heard throughout the clearing, and Darkstar walks into camp, stopping to stand in between me and his father.

"My friends, we have found him. I must thank you all, for my son has returned!" Soul howls, and the clan follows suit.

A celebration is held, and everyone gets a good nights sleep. Except for me, of course. I can't help but wonder who that was in the forest. Thankfully, Cloud holds up to his offer.

"Psst, Shard. You awake?" Cloud calls lightly. I'm grateful.

"Yes." I whisper, and slowly get out of the nest Soul gave me in his den. I creep out of the den, and step to the side.

"Thank you, Cloud, for doing this."

"No problem. I'll be taking you to a Pokemon who can help you search your memories. But be warned, she does not like being surprized. I have not yet contacted her, so we must be careful." Cloud advises.

"Understood. Where to?"

"The caves. The path over there leads to a ledge right beside her den." Cloud instructs pointing to our left, up te mountain.

I nod my head, and we're off. Halfway up the path, Cloud stops right in front of me.

"Hold it, I hear something." He breaths.

This makes me alert. I perk my ears and close my eyes, listening for footsteps or anything of the like.

"There." My eyes open, and I see Cloud pointing to the tip of the mountain with his tail. Narrowing my eyes, I see a gleam of moonlight flash, as if someone is turning their head. Then I see a set of red lights. I get a feeling as if someone is watching me. Then the lights disappear, the gleam blinds me as the object turns again.

"What is that?" I whisper, kind of afraid of what might be up there.

"I don't know... looks to about where Spear Pillar is, though." This catches my attention.

"Spear Pillar? Isn't that just a legend?" My vision comes back to me, and Cloud's head is tipped sideways in curiosity.

"No, it's quite real. Never been there, but not many have. Only a fool would dare to go up there." Cloud corrects me.

"Why? Because of-" I'm suddenly cut off by a tuft of fur in my mouth. I find that Cloud has put the back of his paw to my face.

"Do not say their names, they will hear. They hear their names every time they are said. Especially HIS. You don't want HIM on your case, do you?"

"You mean the white one? Or the black one?" I ask. Then I catch the glint again. I focus my eyes right where it was, and then I notice three sets of red lights. One of the red pairs moves forwards, and now I see a blue one beneath it. That's when I realize each of the pairs of light are actually eyes. Cloud must have noticed this as well, because now he seems to be in a hurry to get out of there.

"We must go. Now. Go go go!" He says in a frantically hushed manner. I oblige, and follow him. I take another look at the peak, and the eyes are gone.

Cloud takes me into the cave, and whistles a light tune. No answer. He does it again, and again and again. We are about to leave when I get a bad feeling.

"C-Cloud, do you have a feeling?" I ask with a worried tone.

"No... why?" His blue eyes narrow at me in suspicion.

I start walking towards the door. "I have this feeling like someone is watching us. I don' like it." I feel the cold night air through my fur as I exit the cave. Cloud stares at me in fright.

"What?" I ask, confused. I turn my head around to see what he's looking at, and bop my head against something hard. "Argh, what was... that?" My voice goes really high-pitched in fear at the end of my sentence as I back up and turn my head to see what I just ran into. I'm met with large red eyes, the moonlight revealing a green outline around them.

* * *

**Officially the longest chapter of the story so far.**

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**BrightCloud 0915 (Chap. 2 Review): Thank you, and you will.**

**Pkmn Master (Chap. 4 Review): lol No need. I'm obsessed with Absol at the moment. Don't know why...**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: Father, why have you brought me here?**

**Soul: Because I want you to take lead of my clan one day, and this will be a good start for you.**

**Darkstar: I've already told you, I want to live my life alone, just me and Shard.**

**Soul: I'm well aware of that, but it's the tradition of the clan to have the leader's son take the reins of the clan.**

**Darkstar: *sighs* Fine. What must I do?**

**Soul: What did we talk about earlier?**

**Darkstar: That Role-Play thing.**

**Shard: Role-Play thing?**

**Darkstar: Yeah. If anyone is interested, the author is going to be making a role-Play on another website. They must be on at the time of this chapter's posting each night, and be dedicated to the Role-Play for multiple weeks worth of nights. The Role-Play, along with the Characters within it, will be made into a story on this site! Anyone interested is to send the author a Private Message as soon as possible.**

**Shard: Wow, that sounds fun.**

**Cloud: Wait, I am receiving a message from the author.**

**Storm: Wow! Can't wait until I can receive messages!**

**Cloud: You will in time, now hush.**

**Cloud: The author is thanking us for our help. He said it is very much appreciated.**

**Shard: Yay!**

**Darkstar: Well then, you're welcome.**

**Soul: Hmm...**

**Storm: There you go again. What's on your mind, Soul?**

**Cloud: Leader duties. You should pester him like that.**

**Soul: Well, thank you readers, for listening to what we've had to say. Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6: A Night of Legendaries

**This is the third chapter of my second story. Read on, and tell me what you think. If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Six: A Night of Legendaries **-**** - -**

I wake in my bed with a feeling. A bad feeling. Dread, fear, shock, and... awe? I sit up and look around. The first thing I notice is that Shard is no-where to be seen. Though my father is still sleeping as if nothing has happened. I crawl out of the Leader's Den being careful not to hit my father or catch my fur on the brambles which block the wind from blasting through.

After my eyes adjust to the light, everything seems normal. There was someone on guard at the entrance to the camp, which has been surrounded by a thick build of frozen brambles. There were others just sitting about.

"Probably couldn't sleep..." I whisper under my breath. Then I get an idea. "Hmm... maybe Cloud would know where Shard went."

I take a single step when I feel a huge gust of wind blast through the camp from the direction of the mountain's peak. But it didn't feel normal, it felt like something huge just pushed the air out of the way. I instinctively look up, but see nothing. There's not enough Moonlight to see tonight.

"New moon..." I whisper, wondering if that had something to do with this horrible feeling. Then there's a huge crash somewhere below the shelf our camp sits on. The force is great enough to knock me off my feet.

"Argh! What the heck?" I yell as I fall over, legs shaking from the vibrations lingering in the ground. My outburst is followed by cries of fear from the nursery. The children have been awaken by the massive trembling, along with everyone else.

"Darkstar, what happened?" My father calls.

"I don't know, there was a massive thud that felt like it came from the shelf below us!" I call back. Knowing that he would want me to check it out, I shakily get up and start crawling towards the ledge. The gust of air comes once more, this time from where the thud had occurred. I'm knocked to the ground once more as the ground right in front of me is hit, making a crater. My entire body is shaking, and my muscles are too weak for me to get up.

"Are you the one who called upon Giratina in the last day?" A voice booms in my ear. I hear a scream of terror from the mountain peak.

Of the faces I can see, they are all displaying the definition of fear, staring at something above me. As I look up, I see glints of pink shining in what little moonlight existed, and two large red eyes at the top.

"Y-yes." I gulp, hoping my life wasn't over.

"Come with me, our master would like to see you." The voice booms, and I suddenly find myself floating in mid-air. The creature leaves the ground, and I unwillingly follow as it flies into the sky, towards the peak where the scream originated.

"Take him to the pillars. You take her, I'll get the one inside." Another booming voice orders.

My captor turns straight for the very top of the mountain, and behind me follows an outline glistening blue in the moonlight, and another behind that in white and gold.

"Wait... the pillars...?" Then it hits me, I know where I'm being taken, and who's carrying me.

"Wait! No, please don't!" I scream. In response, the white figure in the rear comes forth and I catch a glimpse of a golden ring around its back before I'm met with red eyes encased in green blocking my view of anything else.

"This is not a sentence." It states, then rushes past me and lands on the ground at the point of a mythical place known as Spear Pillar. My captor lands before the white figure I'm sure I know the name of, but do not dare think his name. I'm placed at the white one's feet, and two more, smaller, white figures land beside me. Looking back, I see that the blue outline is standing beside the pink one who was carrying me.

"Your name is Darkstar, correct?" the white one asks.

"Y-yes..." Is my answer.

"You already know who I am, but do you know who they are?" He asks.

"I-I think so-" my sentence begins

"Stop stammering!" He orders.

I swallow hard, and focus on what I'm saying. "I think so. The blue one is the master of time, and the pink is the master of space."

"Their names...?" He pushes.

"Dialga and Palkia."

"And mine?" There's the question I knew he'd ask.

"I..." I begin to protest against myself, then decide there'd be no harm in saying a name. "Arceus."

"Very good. Now, what happened in the past day, between you and Giratina?"

Now I'm scared for my life, more so than ever before. I've heard the stories of Pokemon being punished for their crimes against Arceus' code of life. Then I remembered that this wasn't a sentence.

"I called upon him to rid the world of a wretched human." I find the energy to stand, and manage to look Arceus in the eyes.

"Indeed. The meaning behind your actions was pure, and that is something to be proud of." Arceus states proudly.

"Why am I here?" My energy is low, I won't be able to stay awake much longer.

"I can not call upon Giratina or get him into this world. In the next 7 days, You are to find the human once again, and call upon Giratina as you did before. I will be waiting, and am going to take Giratina down when he appears. Take these two with you, and no-one else. Their help will be vital in the mission I am assigning you." he says.

I look over at the other two figures to find Shard and Cloud laying there, asleep.

"Could I not just call him now?" I ask, confused as to why this needs to be so hard.

"He would not come, simply because of our location. Not to mention he can sense my presence."

"I will do what I must." Accepting the mission, my heart gets heavy as if I'm baring a great weight.

"Good. Now go to sleep. You and your friends will wake in your beds tomorrow."

As instructed, I lay down and curl into a ball on the cold stone, taking a last look at Arceus, Palkia and Dialga as I fall into the grasps of sleep.

* * *

**Uh oh. Now things are happening. Darkstar has an important message for you all as well.**

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**None**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: Once again, my father has forced me to sit here tell you of random things which make barely any sense to me.**

**Shard: Oh, it's not that bad. All you have to do is say what you must and be done with it.**

**Cloud: Shard's right. If you just follow what your leader says, life will be a lot easier for you.**

**Darkstar: *sighs* Fine. Apparently, the author is thinking of aking something called a 'Facebook Page' for his followers to stalk him easier. I don't get the logic behind that, but whatever.**

**Shard: I think you're missing the point. See, if the author makes this page, people who love the story would be able to easily recieve updates on when chapters are coming out.**

**Cloud: One would think the author would look for interest in the idea before doing anything though, right?**

**Shard: Yeah.**

**Darkstar: Hey! You guys are doing my job better then I am! Here, you take the torch for me, I'm gone. *stabs random torch into the ground and walks away***

**Shard: Darkstar! Wait! Ugh...**

**Cloud: Damn it... Soul will have my head for this.**

**Shard: I dought that. Wait... where'd he get a torch?**

**Cloud: Who cares. Goodbye, readers.**

**Shard: Bye bye!**

**?: BYE! *knocks Shard over and jumps on Cloud's head***

**Cloud: Ah! Where'd the Eevee come from!? Cut, cut cut!**

**Eevee: I like Apples!**

***screen cuts out into static***


	7. Chapter 7: Disbelief

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokemon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Sevem: Disbelief **-**** - -**

My eyes open, and the first thing I see is an Absol. I yawn and sit up, blinking my eyes in the sunlight. Looking towards the door, I see Darkstar's sleeping form. Then I realize I'm in a den, with no recollection of what happened last night. All I remembered was following Cloud up the mountain.

Feeling something amiss, I get up and sneak past the stripped brambles covering the door. My feet lead me to Cloud's den, and I cautiously peek my head through to see if he's awake. Instead of seeing inside the Healer's Den, I find myself nose-to-nose with Storm.

After a rough bop in the nose, I wriggle my snout in discomfort and focus on Storm.

"Where's Cloud?" I ask, not seeing him anywhere in the small cave.

"Ow... He's sleeping. don't wake him up, he gets angry, especially if he's receiving messages.

There it is again. Those messages. I don't get his thing about these 'messages'. I won't ask him about it though, not really any of my business.

"Oh. Darn it. Thank you though." I respond, and pull my head out of the draped brambles. Before I can turn around, I hear Soul call for me.

"Shard! Come here, get Cloud as well!" He calls.

I back out of the windbreaker and turn around, then walk back to the Leader's Den.

"Yes?" I ask, ducking my head as I push through the drapes.

"Where is Cloud?" Soul demands. Something is definitely up.

"Asleep." I'm curious as to what has Soul so intent on speaking to us.

"Get him." The leader orders.

I shake my head and poke it out the door, then call for Storm to wake Cloud and get him over here.

Soon enough Cloud emerges and runs over. As soon as I pull my head through, Cloud bursts through the brambles, nearly taking them down.

"What happened?" He pants, catching his breath after a bolt across the clearing.

Soul waits for him to catch his breath and explains. "Darkstar has told me that he met Arceus himself at the peak of Mt. Coronet. He also says you two were there. Is what he said true?"

Cloud and I look at each other, each looking for an explanation.

"I... I woke up this morning with a feeling like I'd missed something. And I only remember being in a cave up on that ledge nearby."

Soul's eyes narrow in a questioning manor, but before he can say anything, Cloud explains our hike to meet with a mind-reader and finishes with my situation. We didn't remember anything after entering the cave.

"Hmmm. Sounds peculiar. Darkstar, tell them what you told me." Soul says, thinking.

"I... well, I was asleep when a crash in the ground happened. I woke and investigated. Ne thing I know the ground in front me shakes like an earthquake, and a pink-outlined creature picks me up and carries me to the top of the mountain, to Spear Pillar. Arceus himself appears before me and tells me to find Hunter J again."

I'm shocked beyond belief, and I find myself unable to speak. My jaw hangs down in awe.

"You mean that human from-" Cloud starts, and Darkstar finishes his sentence.

"Yes." His eyes tell me he's not letting on to something. Then a paw smacks my jaw against the top of my mouth, and I realize it was hanging open.

"Well, from what you've told me, you have a very important journey ahead of you. Go, and find the human." Soul orders.

"Yes father. Shard, Cloud, Arceus told me to take you two with me." Darkstar states.

"Oh? Really? That's interesting." That's all I can say.

"Well, if Arceus himself has commanded me to go on a journey, I will abide." The Healer informs, and heads out of the den.

"Lets go. Goodbye father. I should be back in eight days." He says over his shoulder as he follows Cloud out the door.

I nod my head at Soul and meet up with Darkstar in the middle of the clearing.

"Cloud is telling Storm to run things while he's gone." Darkstar reports. As if on cue, Cloud bounds back to us, and Darkstar leads the way out of camp.

"So what's the first step of our journey?" I ask him, hoping he would have an idea on where to go.

"Honestly, I have no clue. But I'd say that a good start would be to ask around and find out where Hunter J went after the event in the city." Darkstar sighs, turning down a path sheltered by an overhang.

"I know someone we could look to for such information. There's a friend of mine on the North side of the mountain who has a tendency of getting information he wants." Cloud grumbles irritably.

"You say it like it's a bad thing. Well... I guess it is." I point out, then feel stupid for saying such a thing.

"It's not that. He's hard to find, and everything he says is so cryptic it's almost pointless to ask him for help. Sad part is, he's our only hope of finding this human." He hangs his head, obviously not impressed with the situation.

"So where exactly does he live?" Darkstar asks, peering over the edge of the path, seeing how far down it is if we fell. "Stay away from the edge." He advises, verging away from the drop-off and into a narrow tunnel.

Cloud takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and sighs. "Sorrow Point. The same place where your mother took her last breath, Darkstar."

Our patrols leader stops, and his shoulders drop. "No..."

"Darkstar..." I try to comfort him, but find myself at a loss for words.

"You must remember your mother for who she was, not for her actions." Cloud advises.

Cloud pushes past me in the narrow tunnel, barely making it through, and I have to duck away from his horn. He then does the same with Darkstar, and continues down the tunnel. I nudge my friend forward and we're on our way again.

We're walking along the mountain when Cloud suddenly stops in front of us. "Stop." He says briskly.

"What is-" I try to ask what the problem was, but he's intent on being quiet.

"Shht." The Healer hushes. I sniff the air, and the scent of a human reaches my nose. Darkstar dives for a nearby bush, followed by Cloud. Seeing no room in the bush for me, I jump onto the ledge above and push a bunch of now onto their bush, making it harder to see the Absol within. I duck into the bank beside me, hide my horn and push my muzzle out so I could see.

As if on cue, a human comes walking along the path, a Weavile and Glaceon walking along side. I eye the Pokeballs on the trainer's belt.

"Six Pokemon, and he looks pretty experienced..." I breath, barely making a sound. The trainer stops at this, and I hope I wasn't too loud.

"First bush I've seen in a while..." He mutters to himself, making my eyes widen like moons.

"Glaceon, check the bush." He orders. We're screwed. We gotta run like hell now. The Glaceon turns towards Cloud's and Darkstar's bush. She sniffs around it, and reports to the Weavile.

"Absol." The Weavile relays this same word to his trainer in perfect human, and in responce the trainer instantly looks at the bush.

"Absol? They're rare! Flush 'em out!" He gets into a battle stance, along with the Weavile. The Glaceon pounces on the bush, and my heart sinks.

* * *

**Ha! Cliffhanger! I feel mean, but hey. I gotta go to bed for the night, and I want this chapter out today.**

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**None**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Cloud: Oh no. Darkstar, you get back here. I got quite the chewing out yesterday from that. Not happening again.**

**Darkstar: *sighs* Fine.**

**Shard: What's the message today?**

**Darkstar: Well, the FaceBook page thing has been made, regardless of interest levels. Also, the author is wondering if he should just quit the story.**

**Shard: *gasps* What?! No! Why?**

**Darkstar: No-one's reviewing. The author isn't getting any input, and it's hurting his motivation to write.**

**Shard: But... I DON'T WANNA DIE!**

**Cloud: That's up to the readers. Start giving input people, or the story dies.**

**Darkstar: Wait... what's that sound?**

**Shard: What sound? I don't- *hears a huge rumbling coming over the horizon***

**Cloud: We should get going. Have a nice day readers. Bye! RUN! *runs like hell***

**Shard: What the heck is- HOUNDOOM! RUUUN! *darts after Cloud***

**Darkstar: Good Bye. Hve a nice day. *bolts after Shard and Cloud, not bothering to turn the camera off***

***The rumbling get louder, and louder, then the camera is swept up and carried along by a massive swarm of Houndoom and Houndour. The camera finally hits the ground and the tape cuts out as it gets crushed underfoot***


	8. Chapter 8: Tunnel-Sliding

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Eight: Tunnel-Sliding **-**** - -**

"Six Pokémon, and he looks pretty experienced..." I breath, barely making a sound. The trainer stops at this, and I hope I wasn't too loud.

"First bush I've seen in a while..." He mutters to himself, making my eyes widen like moons.

"Glaceon, check the bush." He orders. We're screwed. We gotta run like hell now. The Glaceon turns towards Cloud's and Darkstar's bush. She sniffs around it, and reports to the Weavile.

"Absol." The Weavile relays this same word to his trainer in perfect Human, and in response the trainer instantly looks at the bush.

"Absol? They're rare! Flush 'em out!" He gets into a battle stance, along with the Weavile. The Glaceon pounces on the bush, and my heart sinks. I expect Darkstar and Cloud to counter, but instead the bush just crumples under the Glaceon's weight.

"What? Where'd they go?!" The Ice-type cat exclaims in shock.

"This better not be a joke." The Glaceon's trainer warns with a suspicious glare.

"What? No! They were right there!" She defends, and the Weavile repeats her words in the human language again.

"Are you sure? Weavile, check for yourself." He orders. The black and red feline does as told and sniffs the bush himself, and his face twists into a look of confusion rivaling that of the Glaceon's.

"She's right. There were two Absol here VERY recently. It's like... they just... disappeared." His voice trails off as he tries to figure out what happened. As the events replay through my head, I'm certain my expression mirrors theirs. The human has a grand idea, but not one I'd hoped for.

"Maybe there's an opening behind it...?" He suggests half to himself.

"Hmm..." The Glaceon nudges forward cautiously, carefully checking each foothold before putting her weight down. Then, all at once, she falls into the bush.

"Aaaaahhh!" The blue cat screams with a bone-rattling pitch, yet barely heard.

"Waoh!" The Weavile shouts in surprize as he scrambles away from the suddenly appearing pit.

"Glaceon!" Her trainer barely whispers, shocked beyond belief. Running over to the bush, he examines the place where his Pokémon just disappeared, yet it looks as if nothing happened. Scratching his head in confusion, he starts mumbling to himself. I don't hear anything the human says, but I assume him to be doing the same as me; trying to figure out where they went.

I can't try and stand there myself, I'd fall in there too. Then where would we be? Can't look down in there, it seems to cover itself up. Wait... could this be some sort of-

"Go, Staraptor!" The human shouts out of nowhere, ripping me out of my thoughts. "Staraptor, land on that thing and fly up when it opens." He instructs.

As told, Staraptor lands on the bush and the hole opens up once more. But as it begins to fall, the bird catches itself and flies away from the newly revealed tunnel.

"What's all the commotion? Someone fall in or something?" A voice asks right beside me, and I gasp in fear.

Suddenly stiff from the shock of having someone suddenly appear out of nowhere and speak to me, I turn to see an Absol. Recognising the scent on him as the clan, I relax.

"Don't sneak up on me like that. And yes, Darkstar and Cloud fell in, along with the human's Glaceon." I explain, hoping he knew something about this tunnel.

"Then there's no time to waste. They're gonna need all the help they can get." He drops his cover and stands up, instantly earning the attention of the trainer and his Pokémon. I follow suit.

"What do mean?" I ask, but his only reply is jumping onto the spot right above the tunnel.

"Come on!" He urges, glancing at the human.

"What are they saying, Weavile? Translate." The trainer commands while watching us talk.

"Umm, the Absol in the bush wants the other to join it. Maybe they wanna fight...?" Weavile shrugs, really having no clue what we're talking about.

This, I realize, is a good thing. Taking advantage of Weavile's confusion, I jump beside the clan member, and we fall into the tunnel. We're met with an icy path leading down into the ground as I hit the cold surface, chasing him. As we slide down the winding path of ice on our bellies, my only thought is that I hope I'm not headed for my imminent death.

"Keep your legs against yourself, we've got a jump coming up!" He hollers, and sure enough, when I look forward, I see the path open up into a small cave, the path drops off and then start again on the other side of the room. realizing there might be a whole lot of nothing between those ramps, I try to lift my claws off the ice. That's no small feat when you're an Absol, and the fact that I was laying on my hind legs made it really hard. Focused on getting my claws off the ice, I failed to realize he other guy had disappeared.

"Whheeee!" I hear him yell ahead of me, and the next thing I know, I'm flying through the air, completely unprepared.

"Aaahhhh!" I scream in terror. Of course, the first thing I do, being in the air and all, I look down. My heart stops. All I see is a drop-off going so deep down it turns black. Doing my best to tear my eyes away from what could be the end of my life, I look forwards. I barely see the random clan guy land on the ramp safely.

"You'll make it, don't worry!" He echoes through the tunnel he just re-entered. Hoping he's right, I pull my legs in and brace myself for a hard landing. surprisingly enough it didn't hurt too bad, though I was winded none the less. As I try to catch my breath, I see his tail scraping the ice.

"What... are you... doing?" I ask as best I can, hoping he'll hear me.

"The path splits in two up ahead! Use your tail to steer youself!" He calls back, and he digs his tail hard into the ice as far left as he could.

Deciding that I didn't want to risk being cut by his obviously sharp tail at the end of this wild tunnel, I dig my own tail into the right side of the narrow path. Sure enough, the path split into two just ahead of me. I immediately regret positioning myself on the right side as I notice that the left goes up and turns sharply, while the right nudges over and drops off entirely. Using my horn to scrap against the wall, I do my best to slow down. As I shift my claws with the same intention, I suddenly feel how much colder the ice is then the snowy mountain above... or behind me. I don't really know where I am any more.

The drop approaches, and then I'm going down it. My speed increases dramatically, and then I suddenly switch from going straight down to straight up, and I almost vomit from the force of being pulled against the cold surface so hard.

As I slow down, I finally see what appears to be the end of the horrid ride. By the time I reach the end, I've stopped almost completely stopped.

"Here she comes! Grab her before she slides back down!" I hear the clan guy order, and as I stop just inside the exit, I see Darkstar and the other guy shove their heads after me and grab my front paws. Thankful to see my love again after such an experience, I'm able to ignore the pain of their teeth on my paws. They drag me out of the hole and let go of my paws once I'm on flat ground. Laying beside Cloud, who I guess went through the same passage I did, I recover my strength. I look around to take in my surroundings, and notice that the room has multiple openings about the room. Some in the walls, the floor like the one behind me, or even in the ceiling.

"Now, care to explain who you are?" Darkstar asks the guy who lead me into this crazy place. Cloud sits up beside me, having a lot more time to catch his breath than me.

"You should know who he his, Darkstar. He's from the clan, after all." Cloud replies.

"I'd been there for all of two days. I didn't get much of a chance to mingle." He responds, walking over to me and straightening my fur to comfort me.

"To answer your question, yes I do. As Cloud said, I'm from Soul's Clan. Never really understood why he didn't give it a name, but-"

"You're mumbling. As usual." Cloud abruptly interrupts, seemly knowing he would continue if uninterrupted.

"Sorry. I'm Eric. Eric Bowman. I know much about this area. I know all these tunnels like the back of my paw. I've lived here for the majority of my life." 'Eric' says. Guess that explains how he knew there was a split in the path long before we reached it.

"That's... a very human name, Eric." I reply, kind of confused by how odd his name was. Darkstar finishes with my fur and I sit up, licking him on the cheek in an expression of gratitude for his care. I could]ve sworn I caught a look of disappointment cross his face at my action.

"Well, I was born in human captivity. I learned english fairly quickly, and I had to learn Pokémon before they let me go into the wild." He responds in perfect human, shocking Darkstar and I. "What? Never heard a Pokémon speak english before?"

"Uhh... yeah, just... You caught me off gaurd." I admit awkwardly as I shiver from the intense cold. Then I remember the Glaceon. "Hey, where'd the Glaceon go?

"I'm right here, Absol." A very angry feminine voice answers behind me. Spinning around, I find myself nose-to-nose with the Human's Glaceon, who's staring at me with a hatred like no other. I back off, her glare making me nervous.

"OK, well I'm cold, so let's get going." Cloud states, saving me from having to say anything.

"Please, let's. I have a mission to finish." Darkstar agrees, standing up. Eric follows suit and turns towards one of the many open paths along the walls. But before any of us could take a step, more screaming is heard, and suddenly a Weavile bursts through a random hole in the wall, and I recognise it as the same one with the Human Wait, if the Weavile came, then-

"Waaahhhoooooo!" A voice booms through the hole I came out of, and as I suspected, the Trainer comes flying out of the floor. He lands with a thud after nearly hitting the ceiling, which is a good tail length above my head.

All of us just stare in shock, not expecting the sudden event. But then again, his Glaceon did just disappear into nothingness. He quickly recovers and looks around while the Weavile grins like he has rabies. I realize the Glaceon has the same look, and figure they're both battle-hungry.

"Woah! FOUR ABSOL?!" The human gawks, eyes looking like they're gonna pop out of his head. Then, out of absolutely no-where, Eric bursts out laughing.

"This is too good! Hahaha, wow! That's funny!" He laughs, rolling on the slippery floor. The trainer sees this and starts laughing himself, barely able to keep his balance on the ice. The response from his Pokemon are even more hilarious, glaring at him like he's crazy.

Eric, being the first the calm down, stands up, composes himself and waits for the ridiculous scene to die down.

Soon enough, the human clams down and pulls off his backpack. Opening it up, he grabs a black and yellow ball. Predicting what's about to happen, Eric cuts the human off by shocking him like he did me.

"Hello! How are you?" He abruptly greets in Human as the trainer stands up and turns around. The look on his face was gold. Sure, he already had a Weavile who spoke human, but chances are he was trained that way. Finding a wild Pokémon who speaks Human is rare. This was quite prominent when you look at his face.

Shocked, the human dropped the black and yellow ball, which I now recognise as some type of Pokeball, and grin as I watch it smash into a million pieces. How the weak things can hold such strong Pokémon I'll never understand.

"Weavile, did the wild-" He began asking.

"Yes, he did, Master Josh." Weavile answers.

"Now, before you start getting the stupid idea of catching me with your broken UltraBall, I'd like to state that I'm the only hope ANY of you have of escaping this immense maze of icy tunnels. I won't be doing any of that tourist crap if you catch me." Eric warns, making a worried and disappointed look cross 'Josh's' face.

"Damn you!" The Glaceon yells, taking us all by surprize.

I smile, realizing that she won't be able to take me down. She scowls at me. If looks could kill, I'm sure the resulting would've been more than enough to kill me.

"OK then, have it your way. You take the lead." Josh says, zipping up his pack and lifting it onto his back once more. "You guys done with walking?" He asks the Glaceon and Weavile. They both nod, and the Glaceon give me a 'Haha, you have wa-alk!' kind of look. I roll my eyes and ignore her as the yellow light envelopes her, and she becomes trapped inside the so-called 'UltraBall' until Josh wants her out again.

"Indeed." Eric replies, and walks into a random tunnel with confidence. We all follow him with Josh The Trainer admiring our white pelts, much to Darkstar's distest.

* * *

**There. Done. The first OC to appear in the story has made a cameo. Thus, a new part the the Author Note is required. **

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - -**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**Eevs12345: I won't so long as people give me a response. Here. You respond, you get your name at the end of the next chapter. GO SHOUTOUTS!**

**NightISkye: That's fine. Just felt like I was writing for no reason. What's the point of writing something nobody's reading?**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: I thought I'd be able to get out of doing this, being away from Father. Guess not.**

**Cloud: He, I'm just following orders.**

**Darkstar: Sure you are.**

**Cloud: *silence***

**Shard: Come on, just say it. Ge'ez.**

**Darkstar: Ugh. Regardless of not having any interest from others, the author has gone ahead and made the FaceBook page anyway under the name "RedStripe FanFiction". Apparently he was bored. He also says there's only one more Original Character spot left, whatever that is. **

**Shard: *looks around frantically***

**Cloud: What are you doing?**

**Shard: Well, every time we do this, something comes around at this point and tries to kill us.**

**Cloud: Hmmm. Wait I'm receiving a message... *stares at nothing***

**Darkstar: Cloud, you OK?**

**Cloud: CHEESEBURGERS! *faints***

**Shard: ...um...**

**Darkstar: What the hell was that?**

**Shard: *bursts out laughing***

**Darkstar: Right, whatever. Goodbye, readers.**


	9. Chapter 9: Continued Journey

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Nine: Continued Journey **-**** - -**

Eric has been leading us through these random tunnels for who knows how long now. Well, I bet the human knows, but he hasn't said anything about it yet. He's really making me nervous, he's been fiddling with a black and yellow Pokeball in his hands, obviously wanting to throw it at one of us. None of his servants are out, thankfully. Him and Eric seem to get along, but Eric refused his offer to join the human, who i understand to be Josh, in his never-ending journey around Sinnoh. Shard and Cloud are growing tired, and my legs feel like they could give out at any moment. Eric seemed to notice this and finally calls it quits for the night.

"Alright, you guys look like you'll fall over at the slightest tap, so we can all sleep for the night. Just little ways up ahead and we'll stop." Eric announces, looking back at our exhausted faces with eyes of similar feeling.

"Thank Arceus, the cold ice is getting to my feet." Cloud whines.

"Hahaha, and you've lived in the mountains for how long? You should be used to it by now." I inform him, not getting how someone who's lived in the mountains all his life could complain about the cold.

"Ice is a lot colder than snow, Darkstar." He says warily.

"Yeah, but... whatever. Forget about it. I just want out of these tunnels." I give up, it's useless to argue with him. He always wins, somehow.

"Well, hope you packed your coats then, 'cause we've got two more days of travel before we get out of these tunnels unless Josh here has a grapple on him." Eric states in english. I hope the human catches on.

"I do, but the only way all of us would get up is if you let me put you in Pokeballs..." Josh suggests. I growl in response before anyone can say anything. "That's what I thought." The trainer adds.

"Darkstar, do you really want to walk all this way when we could just accept Josh's help?" Shard asks. I shudder at the memory of being sucked inside that infernal human object.

"You don't know what it's like, being sucked inside that thing. It's like you're shrinking, being pulled into a room way too small for you to fit in. The feeling was incredibly uncomfortable. I'm never going through that agin if I have anything to say about it." I snap. The experience was just too horrible, I never, ever want to go be sucked inside a Pokeball again.

"I... um... sorry, Darkstar. I shouldn't have asked." She apologizes. She doesn't even know the feeling of shear horror I felt at that single moment.

"Alright, in yeh go." Eric interrupts, indicating a hole in the wall. I assume it's the one he was talking about earlier. Being on the right, I walk in first. And to absolutely no-ones surprize, we're met with... more ice, except in cave form! Wait.. why am I excited about this? I don't know, I'm tired. As I settle for a spot one the left wall, Clouds comes in, followed by Shard, Josh the Human and finally Eric. While Cloud takes a seat in the corner and begins grooming himself, Shard lays down beside me on my left and begins her routine of cleaning my fur. Eric goes for the back wall, curling up in a ball sliding into a dip in the ground I never noticed before.

"That where you always sleep, Eric?" I ask, pointlessly proving the obvious. As the trainer drops his backpack onto the ground once more, the thought crosses my head that the Pokemon inside would feel every bump, then remember that he has them on his belt. Speaking of that belt, he just took it off.

"I sit OK if I bring out my Pokemon for the night?" Josh asks out of the blue, pulling a light blue bag out of his bigger bag.

"I don't see why not. The more of us others can smell, the less trouble we'll have. Not so sure if there'll be enough space in here though..." Eric replies, glancing around the room with tired eyes.

"I guess you're right. Good night, then." Josh agrees, opening the light blue bag causing a scroll of fabric to come apart.

"Dude, how many bags inside bags do you have?" I ask, shaking my head at the human.

"What? It's a sleeping bag. Not that big a deal." He replies, laying the blue scroll of fabric on the floor.

I remain silent as Shard stops cleaning my fur and rests he her head on her paws. Rustling from the human fills the air as I take my turn and lick the snow out of my love's soft pelt. By the time I'm done, she's fallen asleep and I lay beside her with our flanks touching to keep warm. The last thing I see as I'm taken to the world of dreams is Josh inside the fabric bag, breathing lightly as he rests.

* * *

**Wow, I could NOT bring up the motivation to write this chapter for the life of me. Sorry it was so short. I'll d better next time. may update this chapter again, not sure if I like this one.**

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - -**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**PkmnMaster Rolf: Thank you, I'm trying to put more description in, and for telling me that I have succeeded. Also, thank you for the kind words.**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Shard: Hello! How are you today?**

**Darkstar: Why would you ask that? They can't respond to you!**

**Cloud: Yes they can. Prove him wrong, Readers! **

**Shard: So, what did the author say this time?**

**Darkstar: *sighs* Well, he has a Tweater now. Dunno what a Tweater is, though.**

**Cloud: Twitter. It's Twitter.**

**Darkstar: Makes right about as much sense as the other name. Whatever, his username is the same as on the FaceBook thing.**

**Shard: Yep, I see a theme going here.**

**Darkstar: The author is considering making another story, so keep a look out for it. **

**Shard: What about OCs?**

**Darkstar: Oh, yeah. All of the submitted Original Characters will appear in the story sometime. Also, keep a look out for updates on this chapter. It might get one soon.**

**Cloud: OK, well that's it for today. Let's get going.**

**Eric Bowman: Yes, let's.**


	10. Chapter 10: Betrayal

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Ten: Betrayal **-**** - -**

Shifting to my right disturbs me from my sleep, and I realize someone just left my side. Still half-asleep and unaware of my surroundings, I open my eyes. Met with an unusual light, I see a white form walk away from me towards the light coming through the entrance of the small cave. Realizing who it was, I call out to him.

"Darkstar? What's going on?" I ask quietly, looking at the unnatural light reflecting off the ice through the opening in the wall.

"That's what I was gonna find out." He replies over his shoulder, and pokes his head cautiously out the door.

Now I hear footsteps echoing in the distance. I focus on the pattern... one, two, one, two... it's on two legs. I sniff the air, but can't catch anything. The wind must be going the wrong way. I look to Darkstar, who seems equally confused as me. The steps continue on, gradually getting closer. Then, Darkstar jumps back and rushes to my side, laying down beside me.

"Quiet, act like your sleeping." He whispers softly to me, barely heard in even my ears. Next thing I know, his head is on his paws, and I wouldn't have guessed he was awake if he hadn't just spoken to me.

Following his desperate order I put my head against his, keeping my right eye open just a tiny bit. Moments later, I see a human dressed in green and brown with a really big pack on his back walk in front of the doorway, flooding our room with the unnatural light of a flame contained in a clear object surrounded in metal held in his hand. Seemingly not expecting the appearance of Eric's den, he gasps in shock, and turns toward us. Peering inside, he gawks at the sight of Cloud, Darkstar and I sleeping. He cautiously enters the room, apparently hoping not to disturb us. As he sees Eric, his eyes and mouth open a little more. He pulls something out of a pocket on his leg, and it turns out to be a black rectangle with a circle on it. After a quick flash of light from the odd device, he turns to grab a Pokeball on his belt, but halts when he sees Josh.

"Awww, damn it." The human whispers, throwing his hands into the air. He turns away and leaves the den, and we're left in the dark once again.

I release a large huff of breath I didn't know I was holding, and so does Darkstar.

"Thank Arceus Josh was here." I say, heart still beating like crazy.

Darkstar snorts. "The human proves himself useful." He says ruefully, hating the fact that he needed a human's help.

"I... goodnight, Darkstar." I start to defend Josh, but decide to forget about it. I close my eyes and smile. "At least we're safe."

Eventually I feel him relax, and his breathing slows. I fall into the depths of sleep once more.

_I find myself in a mountainous region filled with immense trees, a misty smell in the air._

_"Hello...?" the wind blowing through the trees seems to say, rumbling from a waterfall crashing down from a cliff making it barely heard._

_"Who's there...?" the leaves rustle, a voice is heard. I glance around, trying to find the source._

_"I can feel your presence." A voice is definite. I spin around, but I don't see anyone._

_"Hellooo?" It says. It sound familiar..._

_"W-who are you?" I ask, wondering if they can hear me._

_"Wh-who's there?!" the familiar voice gasps in fear. confused, I look straight towards the voice, hoping for an answer._

_"...well, where are you?" It demands. I don't see anything ahead of me except for a forest._

_"Um... right here..." I respond, not understanding what's happening. I narrow my eyes suspiciously. Something is up._

_"What the?! Sh-Shard? I-Is that you?" I start to see a figure appear in front of me. The white collection of dust condenses, and I see a sparkly shape with a vague resemblance to an Absol._

_"Whaaaa!?" I yell as I realize that the figure is moving towards me. This is the weirdest dream I've ever had. _

_"W-what's going on!?" The voice is much clearer now, and it doesn't make sense. How did she-?_

_"You tell me!" I yell at the Sparkly Absol in confusion._

_"Hello? Who's there?" I here another voice, also familiar. What's going on?_

_"Um... me? And... Shard? Who are you? Where are you?" The sparkly Absol answers. Her voice sounds familiar..._

_"Storm and Shard? Really? I don't believe it..." A voice strikingly similar to Cloud's says from right beside me. I turn my head to my left and see another sparkly figure, also with an appearance similar to that of an Absol._

_"What the heck is happening? This can't be a dream..." I ponder to myself._

_"I do not know... I've never had this happen before. Usually I go into another dimension in my sleep, but never into someone's dreams..." The figure of Cloud mutters random nonsense._

_"Cloud... What the hell are you talking about?" I don't get anything he's saying. Another dimension in his sleep? What?_

_"I thought we lost this power..." He mumbles._

_"Dad, you're mumbling." Storm says. Wait, what? Cloud is Storm's father?!_

_"Sorry. You see, Storm and I are descendants from a long line of Absol who have close ties with a different dimension. Everyone is linked to this other world, we all go there in our sleep. But our descendants, we had a very close connection to it, able to surf through others' dreams. They weren't very good fighters, but had this connection. Darkrai, the god of dreams gave them an even closer connection to the Dream World, to assist him and his army with a war. They refused, and were cursed to horrible nightmares until they agreed. Knowing what others didn't, they suffered through it and passed the information they knew through the generations. From what I understand, this is a Psychic battleground for the Lunar Duo. As it turns out, there are two gods of dreams. Darkrai is the god of Nightmares, while another is the god of dreams. I knew I could travel to paces in my dreams, and have done it. But I never knew I could walk in others dreams..." He explains._

_I'm baffled. So, Cloud can walk in others dreams? "But... what's the point? The point of fighting a war in another dimension when you could just do it in th normal one?"_

_"I... do not know. All I know is that my family has been pestered by Darkrai for a long time, and only recently have we escaped his clutches. The power to walk in others' dreams was supposedly lost with the death of my great-grandfather, but..." He trailed off, not finishing his sentence._

_"Apparently not... what does this mean if we haven't lost this power, Cloud?" Storm asks. Suddenly, everything starts to go white on me._

_"Well... hopefully not trouble. Learn to control your power, Storm. Keep care of the Clan. Take care." Cloud says as he disappears, and I'm blinded by white._

_"Wait, where are you going?" Storm calls. I guess my own figure just disappeared as well._

I wake up from my dream. Didn't even feel like waking up, everything just went white, and then I came here.

"Alright guys, breakfast is over. In your Pokeballs. Return!" I hear someone say, as my senses tune in after such an odd experience. I hear a series of odd metallic noises, and the rest of my senses come back to me. I feel the cold ice beneath me, the smell of four Pokemon I've never smelled before along with Glaceon and Weavile. I see the human packing up some shiny metal objects, and brown pellets appeared out of nowhere. Darkstar stands up beside me, yawning. I guess he was woken up by the clinking Josh was making.

"Good morning everyone." Eric Bowman greets in human from outside the cave entrance. I didn't even realize he wasn't here until he spoke.

"Good morning, Eric." Josh replies cheerfully, putting random object in his back bag.

"Ugh... humans..." Darkstar mutters under his breath as he stands up and stretches. I stand up and do the same, stretching my front legs first by stretching my legs as far forward as they could go.

"So, you guys ready for another day of travel?" Eric asks in human, sniffing around the entrance to the room.

"Ugh, what a night..." Cloud mumbles as he goes through his own cycle of stretching.

"Haha."? I laugh, understanding the feeling. I stretch my back legs the same way, and get an odd look from Darkstar.

"What do you mean?" He asks with a very confused expression.

"I'll explain later." Cloud says to Darkstar, who nods.

"What are they talking about?" Josh asks Eric, who stops sniffing around to reply.

"Eh, morning greetings." He tells him.

"Oh." Is Josh's reaction. He finishes putting stuff in his bag as Cloud, Darkstar and I finish loosening up our muscles.

I walk over to Josh's side of the room and start smelling the area, trying to identify the Pokemon he has with him. Interrupted by the discovery of one of the brown pellets, I eat it and find the taste surprisingly good. It tastes of an amazing mixture of berries and meat.

"Haha, good, is it?" Josh asks.

"Darkstar, try one of these! They're surprisingly good." I roll one across the room towards Darkstar, and he runs away from it, straight over to Eric. Cloud, however, approaches it and eats it. The look on his face is hilarious, twisted into a mix of disgust and confusion.

"Bleh! How does that taste GOOD?" Cloud exclaims,shaking his head in a failed attempt to evade the flavour in his mouth.

"Hahaha, uhh... maybe I should've told you there were different flavours..." Josh half-apologizes. That explains a lot, actually.

"Can we get going?" Darkstar asks, standing as close to the door as he can with Eric in the way.

"Yeah. Let's go!" Eric says, leaving the room.

"Thank you!" Darkstar says in a hurry, eager to get away from Josh.

"...right. Let's go, Shard." Cloud urges, leaving the room himself. As I step forward to follow the Healer, Josh catches me off guard by stepping in front of me.

"You know, there's plenty more where that came from. If you join me, you could have as much as you want." He offers, holding a black and yellow Pokeball out towards me on top of his paw.

"No." I reply. Knowing he can't understand me without Eric's translation, I shake my head too.

"Come on, you'll never have to hunt again. You won't go hungry, be cold, or anything of the sort. All you have to do is accept my offer." The human urges, emphasizing the Pokeball.

"I said no." I repeat, turning my head away and growling lightly.

"You've got nothing to lose. Come on." He repeats, nodding to the Pokeball.

Instead of a reply, I just growl dangerously at him, and start stalking towards him. His eyes turn to fear, and before he can react I dart forward, smack the Pokeball against the wall with my paw. I feel the ball attempt to open and catch me inside as it gets crushed under the pressure of my paw pads. Looking at him with a look of defiance, I slowly pull my paw away from the wall letting the remaining shards of black and yellow fall to the icy ground.

"No. Now move." I order him, nodding to the side indicating for him to get out of my way. He gets the message and allows me to pass. I slowly walk past the human, glaring at him murderously. He steps back more, I exit the small cave and follow my mate's scent down the tunnel. As I catch up to the others, I pay very close attention to Josh's scent and any sound he makes, ready to dart forwards at a moments notice. The smell of fear is coming off him in waves, and I fail to understand why he doesn't bring a Pokemon out.

"Shard! You coming or what?" Darkstar's voice echoes from some a fair distance up the pass.

"Yeah, I'm here. The human's following me!" I call back with a biter tone, letting them know what happened by the irritated vibration in my throat. I imagine Darkstar on the brink of charging back here and tearing the human's throat out, and at the moment, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. I refrain though, knowing I'd never forgive myself.

I decide to occupy myself otherwise by pondering what happened last night. So Cloud is Storm's father, and they're descendants of Absol with special capabilities able to walk in other's dreams. Someone named Darkrai- wait, Darkrai... that rings a bell. Wasn't he supposed to be a legend thought up to scare children into staying with others or something? Or was that Dusk... Dusk... um... What was his name again? Black Dusk or something? I don't know. Hey, someones tail!

I dart forward and catch up with Cloud, Darkstar and Eric while Josh follows behind. As soon I meet up with them, we enter a large area with multiple passes. That's all I can see inbetween the clan members as Eric orders as to halt and Cloud scrambles back a couple steps in shock.

"Be careful, this things are slippery, and you do NOT want to fall. The good new is that we can cut a day of travel off if you guys trust me, but the bad news is that you need to have some courage. Who's with me?" Eric suggests, looking back at us. Darkstar and Cloud move over a bit in the open area to let me through, revealing the surface Eric is standing on. I step forwards and examine the open space, and the first thing I see is an intricate system of icy bridges crossing over a very deep pit. These bridges are barely wide enough for anyone to walk across with a good foothold, and seem to be very smooth.

"Now, if we cross this bridge here, we can get to another one which leads to another. And that last one will take straight out of the mountain. But if you're too big a Torchic to do that, we could follow that ledge to your right and travel for another day or two. Take your pick." Eric offers in Pokemon, apparently not seeing Josh anywhere. He is quite a ways back, too scared to be anywhere near my raging mind.

"I'm up for it..." Darkstar declares cautiously, unsure if he wants to take the risk.

"Well, we have to get on with our mission soon, so we have no choice." Cloud sighs, lightly trembling in fear.

I sigh, not really liking this situation. "You first." I tell him, and the Absol confidently turns around on two hind paws, switching the direction he's facing.

I decide to follow behind him, being in the best position to start. Putting a careful front paw onto the icy beam, I slowly let my weight down and ensure my pads are gripping the ice before repeating the process with the opposite front leg an then hind.

"This isn't too bad. Just watch your step." I advise who ever is about to start, not daring to look backwards in fear of losing my balance.

"Don't get too cocky, girl. This gets tricky in the middle." Eric warns, trotting towards the center of the long bridge like it's nothing.

"Yeah, says you." I shoot back, taking another couple of steps.

"W-wo-o-oah!" Cloud mutters, probably losing his balance slightly.

"You OK Cloud?" I ask.

"This is gonna suck..." The healer breaths.

"Anyone see Josh?" Eric asks. Come to think of it, he should be here by now...

"Nope. He was following me after his little attempt to capture me."

"WHAT?!" Darkstar yells, making me jump slightly and almost lose my thin grip on the bridge. Probably doesn't help that he hated him enough for saving us last night.

"Darkstar, don't scare me like that!" I pant, barely keeping myself upright as my legs start to tremble from the sudden close call with death.

"Grrrr, that human's gonna get it." Darkstar growls.

"Come on, hurry Shard." Cloud urges from right behind me.

"S-sorry." I regain my composure and continue along the bridge with shaky legs. There is a feeling of focus in the air and before long, Darkstar breaks it.

"Oh, come on, this isn't that hard!" Darkstar exclaims.

"Remember what I said about getting cocky, bro." Eric repeats.

"Like Shard said, you would be the one to say that." He defends.

"Yeah, but I've also been exploring these caves for a long time. This is a cake walk for me." Eric says passively.

"What the hell is a 'cake'?" Cloud asks, confused.

"Human food. Very sweet human food at that." Eric explains as I watch him trot off the last few steps of the beam and start on another one.

"Humans..." Darkstar growls.

"Not now, Darkstar. There's nothing we can do about it."

"W-w-w-ooo-oahh!" Cloud screams in terror. I go against my will and look back to see him tumble off the beam.

"Get him!" Eric orders.

I whirl around to my left on a single hind paw, hook my front left paw on the beam and slam my jaws around Cloud's own left paw causing him to yell out in pain. The sudden jerk from me taking on his weight dislodges my claws, and I lose all grip on the ice.

"Noooo!" I scream as I fall away from the sideways pillar. Darkstar attempts to grab my paw as it slips away, but it evades his grasp. I let go of Cloud as we fall towards our eminent deaths.

"Shhaaaaarrd!" Darkstar screams helplessly, staring back at me with eyes full of regret, fear, loss and love. I feel a wretch on my heart as I realize I'll be leaving him behind to mourn my death. All I can think of is sorrow that My life is over, but more importantly, Darkstar's. We've grown to love each other so much in so little time. I don't know how he'll ever get past this.

"'Staaarrr!" I holler back, answering his remorse as Cloud and I are enveloped in darkness, falling deeper and deeper. I hear our voices echo through my head, and through the increasingly large area.

Out of nowhere, I hear a high-pitched cry, and see a blue glow coming from below me. Turning our heads around, Cloud and I watch as an Icy-blue and silver shape comes through the source of the swirling blue glow. It shoots straight at us, and I feel our descent slow rapidly, and before I know it, the healer and I are frozen in mid-air, unable to move. We watch as a dark blue figure wearing silver armour floats towards us, the bright blue glow making it impossible to see its true form.

"Not today..." a voice whispers from all around us, and all we see is shining armour and red eyes glowing in the depths of darkness as we float backwards up the pit of our presumed doom. Now able to move our bodies, Cloud and I look at each other in shock and disbelief, bodies trembling and lungs gasping for breath after the terrifying event that just occurred. We start to go upwards faster and faster, the blue glow shrinking with each tail-length we go. Eventually we're in the light once more, and find ourselves over the ledge connecting to the next bridge we need to cross.

"Never speak of this... to anyone... other than Darkstar." Cloud orders quietly. I nod my head, and we're placed gently on the ledge, in front of Darkstar's crying form. My horn taps against the ice, and he looks up just in time to see the sparkly blue glow surrounding us disappear.

"Sh... Sh-Shard?" He breaths, looking at me with sorrowful eyes, tears frozen onto his fur.

"Darkstar... yes." I confirm. His eyes show an understanding expression. He knows what just happened. Regaining some of my strength, I stand up and look at Cloud. His eyes are the same, but I don't get what happened. I give them a questioning look, and they respond at the same time.

"Dialga, master of time." What? Wait... Darkstar was saying how Arceus, Palkia and Dialga were therewith him the night he was told his mission. He never said anything about us being protected, though...

"We must get going, w have to hurry." Cloud recovers, and stands up. I follow suit, and begin the journey over the next bridge. Cloud follows behind, leaving Darkstar to recover on his own terms. Eric is already at the beginning of the last crossing. I'm half way across the current bridge when Darkstar gets up and resumes the travel. I'm almost across when Eric calls out to me.

"DUCK!" He screams, and I have no time to react as a pair of talons wrap around my body and I'm carried off my paws and flying through the air.

"One of you is coming with me! I'm not leaving without an Absol!" A familiar voice shouts.

"Josh!" Darkstar snarls loudly.

"Let go of me you feathered idiot!" I growl at the pattern of gray and red feathers above me.

"Shut up, Absol." He squawks, letting me go and allowing me to slam into an icy wall before pinning my forepaws to the ice, back to the wall. I see that my assailant is a stalky Staraptor. Knowing that flying types don't like ice, I shoot an IceBeam into his face, causing him to let me go and tumble through the air. I spin around and dig my claws into the soft cold walls of frozen water coated in packed snow, slowing my descent. The Staraptor recovers, but not soon enough. Cloud has made it across the beam, and Darkstar almost finishes when the giant bird takes out the middle of it,causing the rest to fall as well. With one last leap, Darkstar dives for the edge, and Cloud catches his front paw and pulls him up.

"Staraptor, no! Return!" Josh calls, and a beam of yellow light shoots across the area enveloping the big bird, then retreating to black and yellow Pokeball held in Josh's hand. "Go Steelix! Dig into the walls!" He commands, throwing another one into the wall. A very large metal snake appears, and then burrows into the wall. Cloud and Darkstar make a break for the last beam, running fast, yet carefully. They make it halfway across when I land on the final ledge where Eric stands, helplessly watching the battle.

"Glaceon, Weavile, go! get them on the ledge there!" Josh orders, chucking two more Pokeballs at the ground in front of him. Glaceon and Weavile appear, who immediately start bolting across the beams, making them wider with Ice Beam attacks as they go along.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Eric mutters to himself. By the time he finishes his sentence, the Icy duo are halfway across the bottomless cave we're in, and Cloud skids to a halt beside us, Darkstar following immediately after.

"Quick... use... Fire... attacks on... them" Cloud pants. Understand his suggestion, I bring up a Flamethrower attack, and wait for the other three to do the same. Weavile and Glaceon are almost on top of us, running up the wall, when we release our quadruple attack on the unmatched pair of ice-types. They take the massive hit head on, screaming in pain as they fall onto the ledge, at our feet.

"Gah! Return, guys. Good try." Josh say before glaring daggers at us. All view of him being a scared little human have disappeared now, and suddenly the entire wall above us explodes in a flurry of shattered ice and snow, and we're lucky to have not been hit by the bigger chunks of ice falling around us.

"Again!" I yell, guessing it was the Steelix. But before any of us could do anything, the Steelix creates a spinning vortex of fire around the outside walls as it flies through the air, and digging back into the ice a long ways down. I feel something wet hit my head, and look up. The heat from the fire is making the usually chilly area not uncomrfortably hot, and I start to lose my grip on the ice.

"The ice is melting! Get out of here!" Cloud yells right beside us, and makes a bolt for the exit, slipping multiple times in the few tail-lengths he had to go. Suddenly realizing that this entire area will sone be a giant hole within minutes, I follow him.

"Come on!" Eric says to Darkstar as he follows me. Looking back after getting to the entrance, I see Darkstar glaring at Josh hatefully, befmre he turns around and crouches down before digging his claws into the ice and pulling himself up.

Feeling a massive rumbling once again, I summon flames from inside my body and prepare to blast the steel snake in the face. This time, the steel Pokemon creates a shower of sharp ice and giant blocks from far above us. It looks like it hurt itself on its own fire as it falls through the air straight towards us. I shoot my fire attack him once more as the others run deeper into the cave. After my attack is spent, I watch the Steelix attempt to spin away from my stream of fire. All it magaged top do is change course slightly, and it crashes into the icy wall to my left, getting stuck as it's knocked out by the heat. I turn back inside the tunnel, and hear Josh recall the metallic opponent I just took down.

"I'll get you for this!" Josh threatens, and storms back into the tunnel we came out of in the beginning.

* * *

**Haha, chapter nine has a record breaking 4 views! That's an all-time low! Hahahaha, will this one get 2? Oh god... hilariously low view counts are fun! Wow! I've never mashed this old keyboard so hard as now, writing 1'000 words in an hour! Hope you like the chapter, guys... whew.**

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - - Update Logue - - -**

**1/9/2013: Finished the Char. Responce and Author Responce, and added more content to the battle scene at the end of the chapter, while fixing the numerous grammatical errors. I may not have caught them all, tell me if you find any. Word count from 4'427 to 4'817**

**10/13/2013/: Thought I should add this, in case it wasn't clear. The "black rectangle with a circle on it" is supposed to be a phone, him taking a picture of what he assumed to be a family of Absol. Word count**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - - (this A only) from 4'817 to 4'870**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**PkmnMaster Rolf: I know. I made up for it with this one, though. :) Ummm... not sure if that's supposed to give me motivation or not. Seemed more negative positive. xD**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: Once again, the author is on FaceBook and and Twitter as RedStripe FanFiction. Also, Shard is wro. Cloud said nothing of any reply.**

**Cloud: Actually...**

**"HI SHARD! I'M DOING GREAT!"**

**Darkstar: Ahhh! What the hell?!**

**Shard: Yay! I was right! **

**Cloud: Sadly, our Author is having problems thinking of events for the next chapter, thus new chapters are out later then usual.**

**Darkstar: OK well I'm tired. Goodnight.**

**Shard: 'Night.**

**Cloud: Goodnight.**


	11. Chapter 11: Escape

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Eleven: Escape **-**** - -**

"I'll get you for this!" Josh yell, and storms back into the tunnel we came out of when Eric took us to this bottomless pit of icy terror. I look around the room, and tat walls are chewed up by the Sleelix's digging.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here. That big metal snake may have weakened the the structure of the ice above us." Eric says, and pads into the next passage.

"He's right. Let's go." Cloud agrees, and follows him.

Shard sighs before speaking. "I'm glad he's gone. You were right, Darkstar. Humans are not trustworthy." Shard says with a ight tone of fear, hanging her head.

"It's okay, he's not gonna get us anytime soon. *snorts* His Pets need to recover first."

"You coming or not?" Cloud calls from the never ending hole in the wall.

"You go first, I'll take the rear." I tell Shard, who nods and enters the tunnel.

I follow behind Shard in silence while the others exchange opintless chatter. I can't get my mind off Josh, and his actions made me hate humans even more. After some time, I hear my name.

"What?" I ask, zoning back into the world around me, pulled away from my thoughts.

"We're almost out of this cave. Were are we going after this? We've got 4 days left, plus what's left of today." Cloud says from ahead of Shard.

"I don't now, we have to find Hunter J first." I state, wondering how much of this Eric understands.

"Hunter J? Who's that, exactly?" Eric asks.

"An evil human who tried to capture Darkstar..." Shard says, trailing off as she recalls the events of my capture.

"Oh... I bet THAT went well..." He trails off, suggesting my reactions to Josh.

"Uhhh... depends on who's side you're on..." I respond, not wanting to tell him of our mission.'

"Ah..." Eric trails before going silent.

I begin to think of ways we can find Hunter J, and I feel the air begin to get warmer, however slightly. A fair time passes as I'm sucked into my thoughts once more.

"So how are we going to find Hunter J then, Cloud?" Shard asks from a fair distance ahead.

"I'm not sure... the only ideas I have include asking around, but who knows where that human could be? She just swooped in on a Salamance from nowhere..." Cloud tells her, and I catch a glimpse of his horn swaying side to side as I realize I'd slowed down.

"We could ask the humans, but how would we do that?" Shard asks as I walk faster to catch up.

"Have you forgotten about me before we even exit the tunnels? Come on!" Eric jokes, and I slow down when I'm caught up.

"I-... sorry, Eric."

"Nah, it's fine. Haha ohhh kay. The exit to this tunnel isn't far off now."

"Thank Arceus! My paws are freezing!" Cloud complains.

"Hahaha! You'll still need to trek off the mountain, you know!" Eric points out.

"I'm getting hungry..." Shard says absent-mindedly, and suddenly I feel the same."

"Good goin', now we're all hungry! Hahaha!" Cloud exclaims.

"Hey, just pointing it out..." She says.

"Well, that just means we have to hunt once we get out of these tunnels." I add, really hoping we get out soon.

I sigh, and continue walking. Occasionally my horn hits the roof as the tunnel narrows, and it gets slightly warmer. We don't speak another word until we finally reach the end of these blasted tunnels.

"Oh, Arceus, I never thought I'd be so happy to see snow!" Shard exclaims as she runs out of th now-wide tunnel and dives into a deep snow bank piled up against the rock wall. I notice that the air here is warmer then way up at camp, and assume that means we're low to the ground. I look around, but only see flat land covered in white.

"So... I'd say we're on the plains now... must be North of Mt Coronet..." Cloud speaks his thoughts, and I realize we're near that place Eevee go to evolve into Glaceons... what was it called? Ice Rock, Ice Stone? I don't know, some uncreative name that had to do with a frozen rock...

"I'd say we're somewhere near the human camp known as Snowpoint. If you wanna ask around, there would be your closest bet." Eric advises out of no-where.

"Yeah, but we can't talk to humans... and we'd probably get caught too." Shard points out, and I growl lightlyat the thought of Pokeballs.

"Then I guess I'll come with you. To Snowpoint we go." Eric says, and starts walking North.

"Okay, lets get some food on the way." Cloud suggests as he follows. Once again, we find ourselves following Eric, except this time beside him, instead of behind.

**I'm very sorry this came out so late. MineCraft distracted me, and it's my fault. I have messages for you thog.**

"I now realize that there are people actually following me through FaceBook and Twitter, though they haven't sent me a Friend Request here or given me a follow on Twitter. I understand that some of you don't want to have your real names up here for all the other followers to see, and fully understand. I do, however, request that those who are following me on either of these sites send me a Private Message to inform me that you are indeed following me through a website other then FanFaction. Could you all do that for me please? Thank you very much if you do.

I'd also like to apologize for not having Chapter Eleven of Importance of Freedom out on Sunday, and I have no reason or excuse to not have it out other then to openy say that I could not pull myself off MineCraft long to write. I' like to thank those who are so devoted to my story Importance of Freedom that they actually gave my story 12 view on Sunday! Kudos to you, loyal fans! Thank you for...you devotion!"

Posted on FaceBook earlier today.

**Review if you liked it, and review if you didn't. Tell me your opinion so that I may make this story better.**

**The amount of interest depends on when I make new chapters. The more views per day, the more inclined I'll be to make chapters.**

**- - - Update Logue - - -**

**1/9/2013: Finished the Char. Responce and Author Responce, and added more content to the battle scene at the end of the chapter, while fixing the numerous grammatical errors. I may not have caught them all, tell me if you find any. Word count from 4'427 to 4'817**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - -**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**PkmnMaster Rolf: Haha, thank you. I'll look up that soundtrack later.**

**NightISkye: Thank you for pointing it out. Hopefully I can get around to fixing it.**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: No messages today. Sorry. More sleep for me!**

**Cloud: Really Darkstar?**

**Darkstar: Hahaha!**

**Shard: I agree with both of you.**

**Darkstar: Good night! *walks away***

**Cloud: WHatever. *follows***

**Shard: Goodnight everyone. *follows***


	12. Chapter 12: Snowpoint Temple

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Twelve: Snowpoint Temple**-**** - -**

"Much better, not eating for a day is not something I like to do." I sigh, after we finished eating a Stantler Darkstar had found in the snow y means of tripping over it.

"I've gone for a week without food in those tunnels, so don't feel bad." Eric says in an attempt to make me feel better.

"Try going for two weeks stuck in a cave with no way out other to hack our way through rock. That was a long two weeks I spent with Soul, I tell you.

"Soul? Who would that be, a friend?" Eric asks.

"My father. Cloud and Soul have been friends for a very long time." Darkstar answers for me.

"Ah. Well, that filled me up. Good thing you weren't watching your paws, Darkstar." Eric jokes.

"Hey, it got in the way, so I ate it." Darkstar laughs, as do the rest of us.

"So, what are we going to do once we reach Snowpoint. All four of us can't walk in there, one Absol would attract enough attention..." Shard asks.

"Yeah, not to mention we might get shot at. Humans... so misunderstanding..." I say, wondering how to get around the ultimate thing Humans do when we appear; act first, wonder later.

"Well I know a Human up there who knows me. We could walk around with him, like a team and be safe." Eric suggests. Predictably, Darkstar growls.

"Count me out." He says before anyone can respond.

"Darkstar has a point who's going and who's hanging back?" Shard asks.

"Well, we have to stick in pairs, anyone out on their own might get caught..." I say absent-mindedly.

"Exactly. Eric has to go into the Human Camp, and Darkstar won't go anywhere near it..." Shard adds.

"You wanna come with me, Shard?" Eric suggests.

"Sounds good. I'll stay with Darkstar then." I finalize, standing up. "Let's go."

Sighing, Darkstar stands as well. "That works."

"Then it's a deal. Shard and I will go into Snowpoint and ask around for anyone who's seen this 'Hunter Jay' while You and Cloud hang back. When we get there, I'll show you a good vantage point." Eric briefs as he get's up and shakes the snow out of his pelt.

Soon, we're all on the move once more after burying the remains of the Stantler. We trek alongside the mountain, keeping away from any Humans. Every so often Eric would climb the rock face to our right to see if we're on the right track, and more often than not comes down to report that we're the right way.

We exchange pointless banter from time to time and eventually spot a couple Eevee beside a rock covered in ice. Knowing what's happening, I tell everyone to be quiet as I take the lead and direct everyone to the forest.

"This is that rock-thing isn't it? That one where Eevee go to evolve into Glaceon?" Darkstar asks, probably trying t confirm a thought.

"Indeed. I've seen this a couple of times before, and always wondered what it's be like to evolve into something else." I confirm.

"Same here. Seen it many times, and thought the same. Though I have heard of a special evolution for Absol the Humans came up with..."

"Wait, they're MODIFYING us now?!" Darkstar growls fiercely. Not expecting the ferocity in his voice, I look back.

"That's not what I heard, but it has something to do with a rock and something they wear around their fore-ankle that makes it happen. Seems like there's a special power in this rock or something..." Eric explains.

"Still modifying..." Darkstar mumbles, every breath turning into a deep rumble in his throat.

I sigh, shaking my head at Darkstar's hatred of Humans. "We barely know anything of the subject, Darkstar. Don't make claims before we know the half of it." I advise.

In an exasperated snort, I slowly feel Soul's son calm down.

"Stop here, let's rest." I say as I lay down in the snow, watching the two Eevee at the Ice Rock.

"I could easily keep going, Cloud." Shard says.

"Yeah, but do you not want to watch the Eevee evolve?" Is my reply.

"Oh, yeah! The Eevee!" Shard quietly exclaims, suddenly excited. SHe lays on here stomach beside me, her nose barely poking out of the bush she'd taken cover in. Darkstar reluctantly follows, while Eric walks away.

"I'm going to see if the coast is clear. We're not far from Snowpoint." He calls lightly as he gains distance from us.

I try to tune into what the Eevee are saying, but find myself too far away to hear them clearly. So I sit and watch as they go to opposite sides of the clearing, and charge at eachother.

Before I know it, they're in an intense battle, and I see another Eevee poke out of the bushes across the clearing from us. Back and forth, they take swipe after swipe at eachother, and it suddenly occurs to me that they aren't just sparring. This is battle has significance, and both are trying to take the other down.

"Are... are they trying to kill eachother?" Shard whispers.

"I do not know. Of the times I've seen Eevee evolve, there were a few of them, not just three. There was a kind of ritual to it too, and then they would start sparring until each had evolved..." Trailing off, I continue to watch them as I try to figure out what's happening.

Then the Eevee in the bush darts across the clearing and jumps onto the Ice Rock, scanning the area we're in.

"I think it saw us..." Darkstar states.

"Quiet, their ears are sensitive." I hiss lightly, barely over my breath. Darkstar obeys my order, and we all instinctual keep still. Then I realize the wind is blowing at our backs.

"Oh for crying out loud, he doesn't hear us, he smells us!" I whisper.

The Eevee on the rock says something to the others, and they stop their fight and join the other one on either side of the icy stone. One locks eyes with me, and I fear we've been spotted, then he looks away. He did it by chance.

"Who's there?" He on the rock yells at us. I contemplate not saying, and don't with the hope they'll lose interest. I tap Shard and Darkstar with my tail in a way of saying not to respond.

"Answer me, fool!" He shouts again.

I snort at this. This one is the fool, he couldn't beat me if he tried. Darkstar knows this as well, as he starts snickering.

"You scared or what?"

"Hahaha, I've had enough of this. He's got nothing on me." I say, not liking this Eevee's attitude.

I brig up a Whirlwind and send it flying across the clearing. In doing this, the snow is thrown off us, and I stand up. The Eevee is picked up by the spinning vortex and and thrown a few tail-legths away, and the other take cover behind the rock. Shard and Darkstar step forward with me, and the Whirlwind comes back at us, dissipating as it slows. We're effectively covered in a flurry of snow, and I can see the forms of the Eevee get back up and regroup on the rock.

"That all you got?" The cocky Eevee taunts, and the flying snow falls back to the ground.

Visable to the three, I reply. "No, certainly not."

His eyes go wide and his paws slips. "A-Absol!" He cries, and bolts. "Run!"

Darkstar finds this extremely funny, and bursts out laughing. I look to Shard, who just shakes her head and smiles.

"What I miss?" Eric calls across the clearing.

"Some Eevee who challenge those they can't see." Shard calls back, and I begin walk ing towards Eric.

"Aww, I missed the party. Drat!" He pouts, and turns back around as he sees that we're already following him.

"Not really..." Shard says.

"Anyway, looks everything's good. My friend is home, and I've already spoken to him about our plans. I haven't told him the goal yet, though." He reports.

"Good, let's get going. We're running out of time." Darkstar states.

"Yes, we lost a lot of time in those tunnels..." I sigh. This won't be easy, meeting the deadline.

We're on our way once more, and soon reach Snowpoint. Instead of going into town, however, Eric takes us back behind and onto a hill That overlooks the entire camp. I find myself facing South, looking over a stone building the Humans made for whatever reason.

"Okay, you can guys can see most of the town from here. You're right behind Snowpoint Temple. Shard and I will go to the East side of town and pick up my friend, and we'll set about looking for Hunter Jay."

"Right. If there's trouble, I'll jump in and help." I offer.

"I'll call you if I feel we're in a bad position, don't worry." He responds, and I nod. He walks of with Shard following, who says her goodbyes and they continue down the hill.

After disappearing into the forest and coming out only to show us their location, they walk up to a Human den and Eric hits the front of it with the side of his tail. Moments later, Darkstar holds his breath as the door opens and a Human steps out. Too far way to hear anything, I can't only read the Absol's body movements for a clue as to what's happening. Soon, the Human walks back inside with Eric, Shard reluctantly following.

Some time later, the trio come out once more and begin walking around town. Shard and Eric act as if they're following the Human, and they ask everyone they see about Hunter Jay. Then, after a very long and boring time later, their body language suddenly changes.

Eric appears to speak to the two Human who they just ran into, and they all act shocked. The Human leading Eric around just scratches his, not seeming to understand who Hunter Jay is. Shard is just sitting there, waiting for everything to be over with, and eventually Eric addresses Shard before they both bolt off for the forest.

Figuring they found out something urgent, I stand up and stretch my now cold and stiff muscles with Darkstar doing the same. Before long, we're running as fast we can along the same path Shard and Eric went, following their scent trails to lead us.

We almost collide head to head when we meets, and I come to a stop with my nose right in front of Eric's. Step aside and Darkstar comes up beside me.

"Hunter Jay is in Snowpoint right now! She's in the Temple, lets go!" Eric says quickly before bursting through the bushes past us with Shard close on his tail. With no time to waste, Darkstar and I follow suit, and the four of us are soon racing across the Human camp they call Snowpoint towards the stone building.

As we near the stone structure, I can smell Hunter Jay's scent, along with the Salamance's. Then Shard rushes ahead and blocks us all off.

"Stop! There're humans at the entrance!" She orders, and I barely have enough time to stop before we run into the last clearing. She shoves us behind a Human den and we stop to talk of plans.

"Hunter Jay is in there right now. But before we get to her, we have to go through these other Humans." She starts.

"I say we just plow through them..." Darkstar growls, glaring the Humans around the corner.

"No, we have to do this silently. There're three or four floors to this Temple, and if there's gaurds at the entrance, there'll be more inside." Eric points out.

"He's right, we'll have to do the start with minimal injuries if we're going to get through this. We'll have to establish a battle plan for Pokemon battles, too." I tell them, remembering how intricate Soul's attacks were on other Pokemon when we had to fight.

"Hmmm... I'll talk to some Pokemon in the forest to aid us with a distraction." Eric says before running off for the forest, staying out of the gaurd's sight.

"That works for step one. Now what?" I ask, looking to Shard and Darkstar, wanting them to develope their battle planning skills. They have much to learn if they're to lead Soul's Clan.

**- - - Author's Notes - - -**

**All right! Now, the next two Chapters are already forming in my head. Let's hope I can get back into my routine of writing.**

**- - - Shout-Outs - - -**

**PkmnMasterRolf: Author of "A Spirit's Journey"**

**I'd like to refer Rolf for his story, which was made shortly before mine. My story's start was actually based off of his story, but instead went in the opposite direction. I look forward to each of his new chapters, I suggest you take a look at it.**

**PkmnMasterRolf: u/4757640/PkmnMaster-Rolf**

**A Spirit's Journey: s/9346367/1/A-Spirit-s-Journey**

**- - - Update Logue - - -**

**- - None - -**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - -**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**PkmnMaster Rolf: Your name been up here for four chapters straight! Wow, thank you! Sorry for how short it was, but that's because of the previous chapter. Hahaha!**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: So today, the Author wants to show his appreciation for everyone's loyalty and thank you all for being devoted to his story. **

**Cloud: Also, he really wants you guys to follow him on FaceBook or Twitter. He's "Editing Settings" to prevent others from seeing who's his friend. He's told us that he hasn't finished "playing" with them, but wants me to encourage you to follow him. So, here we are.**

**Shard: Reasons you should follow: Updates on what's happening story-wise, heads up on any events such as Role-Plays and Polls and Extra Shout-Outs and such to other people who have a partnership with him. **

**Darkstar: A Role-Play being...?**

**Cloud: Remember how you would act as another Pokemon, and you'd play games with your littermates acting like other things? That's Role-Playing.**

**Darkstar: Oh... also, Private Message the Author for matters such as Original Characters.**

**Shard: That's about it... thanks for reading everyone!**


	13. Chapter 13: Mission Underway

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Thirteen: Mission Underway **-**** - -**

"So Eric's gone to fetch reinforcements..." Darkstar mutters, watching as Eric disappears into the forest.

"I don't think he'll be back fast enough to join us on our invasion, we will be one our own." Cloud points out.

"How about we sneak around the back of the Temple, and come in on the two guards come the sides or above?" I suggest, trying to think of silent ways to take down the humans.

"Above would be better, they'll have time to react if they hears us coming from the sides." Darkstar agrees, suddenly seeming to like the idea of a silent attack.

"We'll have to watch our claws on the stone roof. We could make just as much noise that way as with stepping in the snow." Our Healer reminds us, and I almost scratch the idea of an attack from above.

"What about inside? We don't know what awaits us in the Human structure. For all we know, there could be humans hanging from the roof!" Darkstar exclaims quietly, giving the guards another glance around te corner.

"Just sneak around. Eric said there's four floors, and that could mean no-one on the first three, and an army on the fourth." Cloud says as he looks over his shoulder to where Eric went.

"I guess that's all the planning we can do before we get inside..." I trail off, not knowing of anything else to discuss.

"Well, then lets get going." Cloud nods, and dart back where we came. Before long, we've snuck around the back of the Temple and jumped onto the roof from where Cloud and Darkstar had sat when Eric and I went into Snowpoint City.

Darkstar, you take the one on the left. I'll take the right" I whisper , and nod for Cloud to hang back. Darkstar takes his position as I do.

"Go." I command, and we both jump down onto the unsuspecting guards. I slam the side of the Human's head with my paw, and land beside him as he falls to the ground unconscious. Cloud lands beside me and I look over to Darkstar in time to see him slit the throat of his assigned Human, making Cloud sigh in response.

"You don't have to kill every Human you see just because you hate them. Hit their head on the ear, that's all it takes." Cloud instructs.

Darkstar hangs his head in shame like scolded kit before replying. "Sorry."

"Thank you. No need to pointlessly waste lives." Cloud whispers and peeks inside the Temple. "All clear, let's go." He reports and treads lightly through the door. I follow behind and Darkstar takes the rear. We're met with a wide open area with random pillars of stone rising from the floor to the roof, and not a human in sight. Remembering Darkstars joke, I look up to the roof and something lands on me.

"Wha-?" I nearly shout as I'm shoved into the ground. Just as quickly as the weight hit me, it's off again, and I bring my head up to see Darkstar throw another Human dressed in black and gray into the wall. Look up again, I spot another human headed straight towards Cloud and scramble to my feet. "Cloud, move!" I warn him.

Cloud has just enough time to get out of the way before the guard hits the ground, knocking himself out.

"Hahaha, well then... guess the joke wasn't so much of a joke, now was it?" Cloud laughs, scanning the roof himself.

"It used to funny... not anymore..." Darkstar mutters, padding to my side.

"Well, it may have saved us." Cloud praises.

"Looks like we're done here, let's keep moving." I say, and walk towards the path leading down into the next floor leaving Cloud and Darkstar to catch up.

Darkstar races ahead of me and silently volunteers to go first by starting down the edged slope, keeping his head low to see what lies underneath the floor in the next room. He suddenly stops and blocks my way with his tail, and stands still.

Knowing he's planning his first move, I stay quiet as to not alert whatever lies ahead. He quickly darts forward ad disappears be around the corner, and I catch up in time to see him take out a couple guards standing beside the opening I'm on. Seeing a couple more ahead, I bound down the edged slope and charge across the floor while the Humans ready for my attack. They get their long weapons pointed at me as I hit them, and they never have a chance to use them before being knocked out.

"Well down, Shard." Cloud says, looking behind some pillars near the opening we came through.

"Thank you. You did good too, Darkstar." I add, trying not to leave Darkstar out.

"I don't know, wasn't my best take down..." He replies awkwardly.

Cloud snorts as he looks over at Darkstar's victims. "Better than killing them, anyway!" He laughs, as do Darkstar and I.

"We should double up one these stairs, two go down at once. Cloud, you come down alongside me." He orders.

"Sounds like a plan." Cloud says as they head for the stairs while I catch up.

Once they had me directly behind them, the two of them tread down the stairs , with Darkstar crouched down and his tail touch Cloud's to give any silent commands. He stops, and tell Cloud to do the same by itting his tail against the Healer's, and we're at a standstill.

"There's ten of them. We all have to rush is at once to get them all silently. Spread throughout the room, I advise a couple of us use Whirlwind to trip them up while we get into position." Darkstar reports under his breath, barely heard, but clearly understood. "Go."

The guys run down the stairs and each whip up a Whirlwind, sending them in opposite directions to clear the room. The Humans take notice too late as each vortex throws a couple of Humans into the walls. Darkstar follows his attack, as does Cloud his own. I'm left to go down the middle, and I blind side the first Human and knock him unconscious. The next human sees me and has no time to react, she goes down too.

The next Human, however, readies her long metal weapon and I barely escape whatever just came flying out the end as I jump off the previous victim sideways and jump into the air above her. Her reflexes are just quick enough as she rolls out of the way and I land on the ground with her behind me. I whip around as fast as I can only to get hit in the head between my horn and the crown on my head.

Dizzy from the unexpected blow, I fail to get up in time before the Human throws something red at me, and it's already too late when I realize I just got hit by Darkstar's most feared thing in the world. I'm sucked inside the Pokeball, and experience for myself the gut-wrenching feeling of the device pulling me inside. The room disappears and is replaced by a soft bed of something I've never seen before. I smell a horrible tang in the air as the human device make a chirping sound, and I try to get up as a vibration rattles through me.

Feeling a small amount of my energy come back, I try again, and manage to get into a laying position. The HUman's Pokeball chirps once more and vibrates again.

My heart racing, I bring up as much power as I can and put it to my hind legs, and jump as hard as I can against the roof. I bracing myself for a harsh impact, but find that the roof gives way above me and I'm suddenly thrown out of the horrid-smelling Pokeball. My feet land on the ground as if I jumped from a ledge, and facing the offending Human who attempted to catch me.

Putting the event to the back of my mind, I jump forwards and slam her in the side of the head as I did the others, cracking the odd thing surrounding her head. Before I know it, Darkstar's at my side, shaking.

"You okay, Shard?" He asks fearfully, and I'm suddenly overcome by the realization of what almost happened. My legs give out and I fall to the ground, unable to stand.

"I understand." Is all I can say as my mind races through the same thoughts Darkstar must have gone through when he was caught.

"I know that was quite an experience for you, but I heard a Human warn the others telepathically that we're here. We must act quickly, or we'll be at a serious disadvantage. Get up." Cloud order, a sharp edge of seriousness in his words.

"He's right, you recover. We'll cover you." Darkstar promises and runs up beside the stairs Cloud nodding and following. Before long, A crowd of humans run up the step right towards them, and Cloud whips a Whirlwind down the stairs. Must of them are shoved back again, but a couple are pulled up and land hard on the ground, unable to move.

Yelling is heard from below, and another wave of Huamns comes up, only to be tripped by Cloud and Darkstar slammed into their friends. With a feeling this will end badly, I do my best to get up on my shaky legs, and take a step forward only to fall.

Darkstar uses Iron Tail on a Human, sending it flying down the stairs so hard I could hear it's body hit the stone. Suddenly they're overrun by Humans, and I take a risk in standing up and using ice beam on the group, and luckily miss Darkstar and Cloud.

"Good shot Shard!" Cloud exclaims, totally caught off guard by my sudden assistance.

I bow my head, his praise putting the memories of my near-capture out of my mind. I run up to them and look down the stairs to see if the Human Darkstar had slammed with his tail was dead, and I couldn't tell.

"I think we should just get out of here and ambush them when they come out." I suggest, feeling trapped in the temple.

"We have Eric coming with reinforcements too though. We have to hold them off while he fulfills his end of the plan." Cloud counters.

Darkstar says nothing, he instead creeps down the stairs just far enough the he can see what's happening below, and jolts back just before a beam of bright white energy smashes into the wall beside him, coating it in a dull golden glow.

"There's only five down there now, but..." He trails off, staring blankly at the now-golden wall.

I gulp, wondering if we have to go down there. "W-we don't have to go down there, d-do we? I really don't want to see what that could do to us..." I ask, stammering.

"Um... I'm thinking I like Shard's idea now..." Cloud trails off.

"Just wait..." I hear someone say from below.

"We have three days... who knows how long they'll be down there? Plus, they know we're here. If we leave, they'll have time to prepare themselves." Darkstar points out, dashing any hopes of aborting our mission.

Cloud sighs, defeated. "He's right, we have no choice."

**- - - Author's Notes - - -**

**First off, I refer to the oval on an Absol's head as their "Crown." Just to clear up any confusion.**

**- - - Shout-Outs - - -**

**PkmnMasterRolf: Author of "A Spirit's Journey"**

**I'd like to refer Rolf for his story, which was made shortly before mine. My story's start was actually based off of his story, but instead went in the opposite direction. I look forward to each of his new chapters, I suggest you take a look at it.**

**PkmnMasterRolf: u/4757640/PkmnMaster-Rolf**

**A Spirit's Journey: s/9346367/1/A-Spirit-s-Journey**

**- - - Update Logue - - -**

**- - None - -**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - -**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**PkmnMaster Rolf: Annnnd there goes you record.**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: Same as last time, the Author thinks you should check out the "Facebook" and "Twitter" things and stalk him.**

**Shard: *snickers***

**Cloud: *Shakes head***

**Darkstar: What?**

**Shard *laughs***

**Cloud: *sighs* It's folowing, not stalking.**

**?: Apples!**

**Shard: Oh crap! *looks around franticaly***

**Darkstar: Where'd that come from?**

**Cloud: I don't know, must be that crazy Eevee again...**

**Shard: *runs away***

**Cloud: Yeah... I agree Shard. *follows***

**Darkstar: Bye! *hastily dashes off***


	14. Chapter 14: Hunter Jay

**If you guys have Original Characters you'd like to submit, I'd happily accept them and give you credit. Just PM me and I'll ask you questions and things... READ ON!**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum and Pearl cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Fourteen: Hunter Jay **-**** - -**

We have no choice. We have to go down there. If we leave, they can make their forces greater and we'll never achieve our mission. Our only hope is to wait it out an hope Eric gets here with backup soon.

"Eric." I say absent mindly as I think in the silence we fell into.

"What?" Cloud asks, snapping me from my thoughts.

"Eric. If he comes with reinforcments, we'll be fine." I explain my thinking.

"Yeah, but who knows how long he could be...?" Shard asks.

"Hopefully soon, if we have to rely on his backup." Cloud responds.

"It's a matter of who makes the first move." My mind trails off again.

I'm trying to develope a plan in my head, but can only think of moves to do inside the room. Getting into it is the ultimate obsticle. I don't know what that golden stuff on the wall does, but I don't want to find out if it's so hot I felt it almost burning my fur as it flew past me. Not that I haven't been burned before, but it just sprawled itself across the wall like a spider, not splash off it like hot water. It didn't even melt the ice that's right beside it, just... stuck to the wall!

"I think our best bet is to enter the room though the back of the stairs." I move to where I can see the bottom of the stairs go to flat stone of the fourth floor from the third. "If we just from here, then off the wall and go sideways, we might be able to get in while avoiding whatever that was." I nod to the dull gold stuff on the wall.

"But even then... there could could be more down there aiming everywhere. It's either that or we wait for Eric." The Healer recaps.

"What do we do then?" Shard urges, getting antsy. I stand there for a moment, considering what to do.

"We go for it. We jump down there and take the Humans down, or leave, and never be able to get them, thus failing Arceus." I decide.

"So be it. Darkstar, you go down first and immediately go to your left. We'll wait until they start following you with whatever weapon they're using, and I'll jump down in the same place you did and go right." Cloud directs, and I nod.

"And me?" Shard asks.

"Go from where you are, at the top of the stairs. Run down them and try to jump down as soon as you get far enough. Do not touch the flat part, jump from the stairs. If any of them are still pointing in your direction, they'll be expecting you to come in like as two." Cloud tells her while I get ready to jump, sizing up where to put my paws.

"Understood." She replies, and gets into a ready position.

I take a deep breath, and prepare my muscles for the jump. "Go." I whisper, and shootmyself at the wall. I turn in the air and my paws land on the wall I was just facing. As my paws push off the wall the Human do as I expected and shoot where I would've been should I have come down the stairs. I feel the heat almost singe my fur once more as it lands on the wall while I leave it and land on the floor. Immediately turning to the left, I barely manage to dodge another bright white blob shooting by me. Skimming around the edge of the room, I see Cloud repeat my actions instead turning right.

I catch the female's eyes, the one who I'm after. She looks at me, then turns to Cloud. Cloud and I pass eachother and I catch feeling of understanding from her eyes, and it's too late for me to warn her when Shard comes down the steps. Hunter Jay whirls around and fires a white streak from her arm, straight at Shard.

"Noo!" I hollar, running straight for Shard as she's uexpectedly by the blast.

"Ahhhh!" She scream in pain as she falls down the stairs. I try to catch her, but I was too slow, and I skid to a halt , face to face with Shard standing up, coated in the same dull golden stuff on the wall. I try to push her back to gaurd her, but she's frozen solid, and I step back and look to her eyes. I see the same fear frozen in her eyes as what I feel.

"Ha ha ha! Silly Absol, it's not hard for me to see through your plans. Nice try." Hunter Jay laughs as I whip around to see her walk forward, up to me. "You may have got the better of me in Oreburgh, but not now."

I growl at her, threatening to tear her throat out, but she ignors me.

She pulls her arm up again and pionts at me, showing me something strapped to her arm, the same color as Shard. "This time, you're mine." She says almost happily, and I get a split second to hear Cloud yell "MOVE!" before the light comes from the thing on Hunter Jay's arm, and blinds me.

The heat of the stuff flying past me was nothing compared to it hitting my face. It burned, and I felt it crawl through my pelt, freezing every hair it touched. The pain didn't subside until it finished covering my whole body, and as it cooled down, I was thankful for the cold on my fur after that burning heat. It wasn't until I recovered when I realized I was powerless to move. I was trapped in my own body, perfectly able to see and hear Cloud's capture, but unable to move a single muscle to aid him.

This was worse then a Pokeball. I was, for the first time in my life, scared for my life. I knew a trainer would never kill me, and I could evad pochers easily enough. But this... Hunter Jay could do hatever she wanted to me,and I'd be powerless to defend myself. I can't move or speak. I don't know how I can breath through my moth being frozen closed. Oh, my nose... I want her dead. If Arceus doesn't kill her, I WILL. I don't care if every legendary in the world is watching, this Human is by far the worst of them. And I thought pochers were idiots...

As I was thinking, SHard, Cloud and I were put on etal discs and a clear cover went over us. They transportedus out of the temple and into a big metal vehicle of which I've never seen before. I don't know how Anyone will save us now. Eric doesn't know we've been captured, and even if he did I don't think any bird he had at his disposal could help us. We're doomed to whatever fate Hunter Jay has written for us. I'm put on a highened ledge with Shard's frozen body to my left and Cloud's to my right, the humans able to see us at eye level.

As time drags on, my hatred for Hunter Jay increases. I ponder whether or not to kill her quick or torment her for her treatment of us. If she's done it to me, has she done it to others as well? I can't hrlp but feel bad for Shard and Cloud. Neither of them have been through capture, and this is far worse then I went through. Each negative thought fuels me to kill HUnter Jay. Having nothing to do, I fall asleep fairly quickly, longing for the ability to move in my dreams.

_'My dreams take me to a mountainous region with tall trees, heavy, warm moist air and the smell flowers and active life._

_"Where am I?" I ask out loud, not recognising the area. "Is a forest? Really weird forest..."_

_"You're in your dreams, Darkstar." the wind whispers, barely heard through the crashing of a vertical river._

_"Taken by surprize, I leap back and look around. "Who's there?!"_

_"It's me, you should remember me, Darkstar. Well... maybe." The wind says, seemingly undecided, yet more clear, though everslightly._

_"No, I don't think I've ever spoken to the wind before!" I shake my head. "Am I losing it?" I ask myself quietly._

_"Tell me your surroundings, Darkstar" It requests, and I begin looking around, taking in the area._

_"How do you know my name?" I ask, noting the biggest descriptive things._

_"All will be explained soon." The voice says, now very clear, to the point I can almost figure out where it is. "Where are you?"_

_"Uhhh... there's a verticale river to my right, and I'm standing on a rock jutting out over the river. Another one right across from it." I describe, annoyed at not getting an answer._

_"I'm right here, and so is you lover." It says, right from across the river._

_"What?! How do you know that? Where's Shard?" I demand, fearing she's in danger._

_"Hahaha, Darkstar, really? I'm in your father's Clan, we all know!" The voice is really familier, and really close now._

_"I'm right here, Darkstar." Shard's voice replies, and she walks out of the bushes from across the river with Storm right beside her._

_"Storm?!" I'm lost as to why the Clan Healer's apprentice is in my dreams, but try to push it aside._

_"Yes, Darkstar, it's me. Remember our family's secret?" The apprentice asks, stepping onto the rock opposite mine with Shard._

_"Which one?" I ask, and laugh._

_She only smiles. "We're in the Dream World right now, Darkstar. I brought you here." Is her shocking reply._

_"Wait... didn't you-..." I trail off._

_"Yes, our family was supposed to have lost this ability generations ago, but Cloud and I have rediscovered it. I don't use it often, in hopes to evad Darkrai. So far it's worked." Storm explains._

_"Well if you and SHard are here..." Itrail off once more, suddnly remembering Shard's presence. I look into her eyes with a sorrowful and helpless gaze._

_"He'll be here soon. Uh... is something wrong?" Storm asks, alerted._

_"Yes, something is very wrong, Storm." Shard beats me to it._

_Alarmed, Storm's fur fluffs out and she stands straight. "What wrong? Is Eric dead?"_

_I shake my head. "No, even worse, Storm. We've been captured by Hunter Jay."_

**- - - Author's Notes - - -**

**Okay, between playing Pokemon X and writing my story, this chapter took a while... ha ha ha ha! I did find an Absol though. Named her Shard, of course. :)**

**Also, I've added an update to Chapter Ten: Betrayal. Just a small thing to clear something up. It's in the Update Logue at the bottom, not in the Author's Notes. Nothing major, you don't have to look for it if you don't want to.**

**Just for the sol purpose of bragging, I can't help it. I'm the first person in a own of 3000 to 4000 people to own Pokemon X! Yeeeaaahhh! Hahaha, sorry, couldn't help it. :P**

**- - - Shout-Outs - - -**

**PkmnMasterRolf: Author of "A Spirit's Journey"**

**I'd like to refer Rolf for his story, which was made shortly before mine. My story's start was actually based off of his story, but instead went in the opposite direction. I look forward to each of his new chapters, I suggest you take a look at it.**

**PkmnMasterRolf: u/4757640/PkmnMaster-Rolf**

**A Spirit's Journey: s/9346367/1/A-Spirit-s-Journey**

**Jason Marten: Author of Snowblind**

**Jason has been working on his story for a good while now, long before mine if I'm correct. His story is in our own Universe, exploring what it'd be like for a trucker to get a Glaceon. Definately different, I'll give it that. The most impressive part of his story is how long it's taking for time to pass in it. He's gone about two days of time in around 26 chapters, 13 chapters per day. xD**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Update Logue - - -**

**- - None - -**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - -**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**PkmnMaster Rolf: Annnnd there goes you record.**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: So today, the author want to apologize for not using FaceBook and Twitter as much as he should be. He promises to put more effort into that.**

**Shard: Seriously, is anything else to call him other then "author"?**

**Cloud: Um... "RedStripe". He's telling me "RedStripe".**

**Darkstar: RedStripe?**

**Cloud: Yeah. *shrugs***

**Darkstar: What, he smear himself with his oppenent's blood or something?**

**Cloud: Ow! *puts paws over his ears***

**Shard: What's wrong?**

**Cloud: He's laughing a little too loud...**

**Darkstar: *confused face***

**Cloud: Oh, he apologized. Thank you, RedStripe.**

**Shard: Right then... anything else?**

**Darkstar: Nope. Hey, why doesn't Storm do this job? Or you, Cloud? Oh, there's an idea! How about "RedStripe" does his own messages!**

**Cloud: He does...**

**RedStripe: I'm done talking through Cloud, it's annoying. I do, Darkstar. The veiwers find your messages funny. That's why. Sorry if it irritates you.**

**Darkstar: Woah! Well well, look who showed up! Wait, where are you?!**

**Shard: Um, Darkstar...**

**RedStripe: ...in your head. Now, have a good day. *leaves***

**Darkstar: Grrr... **

**Cloud: Well... that was unexpected... anyway, good night everyone. Let's get out of here.**

**Shard: Okay. Good night! *walks away***

**Cloud: *follows***

**Darkstar: *shake head* Whatever. *walks away with the other two***


	15. Chapter 15: Cloud's Decisions

**I am no longer accepting Original Characters.**

**I do not own Pokémon or anything of the like. Just my Platinum, Pearl and Pokemon X cartridges.**

* * *

**- - - **Importance of Freedom: Chapter Fifteen: Cloud's Decisions **-**** - -**

_Alarmed, my legs stiffen and fur bristles. "What's wrong? Is Eric dead?"_

_Darkstar shakes his head in sadness. "No, even worse, Storm. We've been captured by Hunter Jay."_

_I freeze. I can't be. They've been... captured? Oh no... My voice comes out as barely a whisper. "W-... what?"_

_Out of nowhere, Shard breaks down, her legs give out rom underneath her and she begins crying. "What are we gonna do? There's nothing we can do, at all!" She cries._

_Darkstar walks over and lies beside her, licking her head to comfort her. "We may be helpless, but there's still hope."_

_Cloud, joining us unannounced, catches our attention. "That is true. Eric said he was getting reinforcements, and may have seen our capture."_

_"But how will he know where we are? We could be in another region for all we know!" Shard exclaims. She's right, there's no telling where they are._

_Darkstar's eyes reflect the same sorrow as Shard's. Curious, I look and see nothing in my mentor's eye's "Cloud? What's wrong?"_

_"Probably the same thing with us. We can't even move, Storm. There's nothing we can do." Darkstar says._

_"Cloud?" I ask again. I've never seen him like this before. I've known him all my life._

_"The Clan was formed by Soul's My ancestors. Soul's ancestors swore to protect mine from our greatest threat. And so far, it's worked. But now... it seems we need to go back on that promise to protect future generations." Cloud proclaims._

_There's only one thing I can think of that he's suggesting, but I don't want to believe it. "Cloud... you're not suggesting-"_

_"I am. Do not tell Soul of this, it must be done." He cuts me off._

_"No, please! It'll destroy everything our ancestors have worked for!" I exclaim._

_"At what cost? To lose Darkstar, the next Guard? No, that cannot happen!" My father argues._

_"What do you mean, Cloud?" Darkstar asks, tearing us from our argument. _

_"I must go to Darkrai. And-" The Healer starts._

_"Darkrai?! No, you can't do that! My father wouldn't allow you to ruin everything like that!" Darkstar shouts, standing up._

_Cloud sighs and thinks before speaking again. "What would you rather have? All three of us die, or just one?"_

_No. He can't be suggesting that. "Dad, please, don't!"_

_"What? You mean you're going to-" Darkstar cuts off suddenly, thoughts rampaging through his head._

_"W-What are you thinking of, Cloud?" Shard asks hopefully, not understanding what Cloud's intentions are._

_"I must sacrifice myself to Darkrai to save you two. We have no other choice." My dad says sternly, glancing towards me. He's serious, there's no point in arguing anymore._

_"Please, Dad. No..." I plead, even though it's pointless. He takes the two steps towards me and rests his nose on my bowed forehead. _

_"I'm sorry, my daughter. I cannot allow the last of Soul's family to die to a foolish Human. He and those before him have worked too hard for it to be washed away by a Human and whatever intention she may have." Cloud says both sorrowfully, and proudly._

_"But... Cloud..." Shard whispers, not fully understanding what Cloud is speaking of._

_"Cloud, there must be another way." Darkstar suggests._

_"I know it's hard, but more severe sacrifices have been made. For one to die honourably is better than hundreds to die in murder. Remember our mission." Cloud finalizes._

_"Father..." I mutter hopelessly, unable to accept his unavoidable death._

_"I'm sorry, Storm." Cloud tries to comfort me._

_We spent the rest of our time together recalling good memories with each other. Shard and I probably got the most of it. Her for learning more about us, and me for the final hours of I get with my Father._

I wake up crying, and I'm not torn from my solitude in my Father's old den until someone calls my name from the Healer's Den entrance.

"Storm? Everything alright?" They ask, not getting much for an answer other then my cries.

They enter the den and my Mother's scent reaches my nose. "Storm, what's wrong?"

It takes me a short while before I can find it in me to speak. "It's Cloud..."

Mother seems a bit surprized at this. "Is everything okay? What's going on in their journey?" She asks. I told her about my newfound powers, so she knows I can talk to them in my sleep.

"No. They've been captured... Cl-" I say.

"Oh no..." She mutters in between my words.

"Cloud is going to sacrifice himself to free Darkstar and his mate." I finish, not stopping for her comment.

Her face is written with shock and the same sorrow I've felt all night. "No... why, Cloud? Why?" She asks the sky through the stone roof above us.

"He said there was no other choice. It was just him, or all three." I explained.

"Him and his prophecies..." She mutters, then somehow manages to laugh. "You know, he's always been a proud Absol, Storm. Always putting himself aside for others."

"I know, but... couldn't there have been anther way?" I ask her.

"If he's going as far as sacrificing himself, he must have seen nothing better to do." Mother says softly.

I sigh helplessly. I've never felt anything like this before. I've felt horrible when I had to help Cloud bury other Absol in the Clan, and felt sorry for the families who lost their loved ones. But at least they got to see their bodies before burial. I'll never see my Father again.

"I'll go get Soul and tell him what's happening." Mother says before getting up and heading out the den.

"No, don't. Cloud doesn't want Soul to know." I pass on, respecting my Father's wish.

"Soul is Cloud's close friend, he deserves to know." She says sternly before leaving the Healer's Den.

"I'm sorry, Father. I tried." I tell him, even though he can't hear me.

I see no point in sitting there uselessly, and stand up to stretch. After I loosen my stiff muscles I sit down and lick my fur straight. I wasn't very far in when My Father enters the den. I'm surprized not to see my Mother join him. I take one look at his expression and see why.

"Icepelt tells me Cloud is sacrifing himself. Is this true?" He asks me angrily, distraught by his friend's message.

"Yes, It's true. I'm sorry, Soul. I couldn't stop him." I say regretfully, bowing my head.

"No... Cloud... I have to talk to him!" Soul declares.

"I can't do that, Soul. We all have to be asleep." I remind him.

"I know... thank you Storm." He apologizes before turning around and leaving the den.

I continue straightening my fur and leave the Healer's Den once I've finished. Stepping outside, I look around to see the camp mostly emtpy. Everyone must be on hunting patrols. I look to the Peak of Mt. Coronet to Spear Pillar and sigh. That's where this all started, the journey that will end my Father's life.

**- - - Author's Notes - - -**

**It tore me apart to write this Chapter. It really did. Sorry for the Short chapter. Not really much to do here.**

**Also, I'd like your opinions. Do I keep Cloud in the Character Responce or drop him when he dies?**

**- - - Shout-Outs - - -**

**PkmnMasterRolf: Author of "A Spirit's Journey"**

**I'd like to refer Rolf for his story, which was made shortly before mine. My story's start was actually based off of his story, but instead went in the opposite direction. I look forward to each of his new chapters, I suggest you take a look at it.**

**PkmnMasterRolf: u/4757640/PkmnMaster-Rolf**

**A Spirit's Journey: s/9346367/1/A-Spirit-s-Journey**

**Jason Marten: Author of Snowblind**

**Jason has been working on his story for a good while now, long before mine if I'm correct. His story is in our own Universe, exploring what it'd be like for a trucker to get a Glaceon. Definately different, I'll give it that. The most impressive part of his story is how long it's taking for time to pass in it. He's gone about two days of time in around 26 chapters, 13 chapters per day. xD**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Update Logue - - -**

**10/14/2013: Fixed grammtical mistakes**

**- - - Original Character Cameos - - -**

**- - Eric Bowman: Owned by Jason Marten, author of Snowblind - -**

**Jason Marten: u/4381412/**

**Snowblind: s/8735679/1/Snowblind**

**- - - Author's Response - - -**

**NightISkye: No problem, thank you.**

**Jason Marten: No clue where Eric is, sorry. :P LOL **

**Namffoh Salohcin(Guest): Thank you for the suggestion, but it wouldn't work. How would the Absol find Hunter Jay?**

**- - - Character Response - - -**

**Darkstar: Today the Author has closed acceptance of Original Characters. There will be no more OC's other then ones already here appearing.**

**Shard: And that means anyone who already has already sent OC's in, your Characters will still appear. **

**Cloud: Everyone should still check into the FaceBook and Twitter things though. No-one has followed or had any other actions with the sites.**

**Darkstar: Other then that, there's nothing else to say. Bye!**

**Shard: That was short... Bye!**

**Cloud: Bye!**

***screen blanks out***


End file.
